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EEMINISCENOES 



OF 



/ 






JAMES A. HAMILTON; 



OK, 



MEN A.ND E'^^ENTS 



AT HOME AND ABROAD, 



DURING THREE QUARTERS OF A CENTURY. 




NEW YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY. 

1869. 



fS"^^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO,, 

;u the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of Kew York. 



THE TKOW & SMITH 

Book MAyvFACTVitixo coMPAXi; 

4S, 4% M Greeni: Street) N. Y, 



PEEFACE. 



The author of tliis work, from a well-founded diffidence of his abilities, was 
induced to undertake this work by a desire to do justice to his Father against the 
aspersions of Mr. Jefferson, and more recently of Martin Van Buren, in his Inquiry 
into the origin of Political parties of the United States. lie had the good fortune 
to enjoy the society of His Father's cotemporaries, officers of the war of the 
Eevolution— members of the Government of the United States— Eufus King, Gou- 
verneur Morris, Col. Pickering, George Cabot, Oliver Wolcott, H. G. Otis, and those 
members of the Bar of New York who were his associates, Kent, Harrison, the 
Ogdens, Hoffman, Riggs, and others— and to learn from them incidents connected 
with his conduct in the important situations in which he was called to act. The 
work has been extended far beyond the original purposes of the author by recollec- 
tions which are assumed to have some public interest. 



COI^TEI^TS. 



ERRATA 



Pag3 184, 9th line from bottom — for "realized," read " }'e/i«W." 

" 227, 20th Hue from top— for " Boraush," read " Branch." 

" 552, date of letter to Wm. P. Fessenden— for " January 22, 1863," read "/«/?/ 
22, 1864." 

" 561, last line of page — for " my," rend " very."' 

" 571, 4th line from top — for "in," read "o«." 



cuity regaraing its repayment 40 

CHAPTERIII. 

EARLY POLITICAL LIFE. 

The American newspaper and the Bank of America — An inquiry into the conduct of 
Mr. Van Ness — Effect of the exposures — The duel hetween — The forged 
challenge to Aaron Burr — Retirement from office — The De Longuemar^ and 
Meade claims, &c. — Conversations between the Secretary of State and James A. 
Hamilton, relative to the Spanish treaty — The Presidental contest of 1824 — A 
visit to New Orleans' — General Jackson — -Incident of the battle of New Orleans 
— Eeturn home — Encounter with Indians — Correspondence with.M. Van Bureu 
— Appointed an Aide — Banks and Banking 48 



COISTTE^TS. 



CHAPTER I 



EARLY LIFE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 



Birth and parentage — Recollections of Alexander Hamilton — Letter from Philip 
Hamilton — Charges against Alexander Hamilton examined and disproved — 
Unworthy insinuations of James Madison — Correspondence regarding Hauteval 
— The French Minister, Genet — Alexander Hamilton's professional life— Sketch 
of his career by himself — Jefferson's charges and insinuations examined — Char- 
acters of Jefferson and Hamilton compared — "Washington's opinion of Jefferson 
— Proof that Alexander Hamilton wrote Washington's Farewell Address — 
Hamilton's Financial System — Virginia State armory 1 

CHAPTER II. 

GRADUATION AND ENTRANCE ON POLITICAL LIFE. 

Graduation at Columbia College — Admission to the Bar — Speech at a Federal Meet- 
ing — A threatened duel — Marriage — Struggle with poverty — The bar of Colum- 
bia county — Bitter hostility of political parties — Unpublished pai-ty liistory- 
A political dinner i)arty--Removal to New York — A Master in Chancery — The 
Morris Estate — Louis Philippe in exile — A loan from Gouverneur Morris — Diffi- 
culty regarding its repayment 40 

CHAPTER III. 

EARLY POLITICAL LIFE. 

The American newspaper and the Bank of America — An inquiry into the conduct of 
Mr. Van Ness — Effect of the exposures — The duel between — The forged 
challenge to Aaron Burr — Retirement from office — The De Longuemarff and 
Meade claims, &c. — Conversations between the Secretary of State and James A- 
Hamilton, relative to the Spanish treaty — The Presidental contest of 1824 — A 
visit to New Orleans — General Jackson — Incident of the battle of New Orleans 
— Return home — Encounter with Indians — Correspondence withM. Van Bureu 
— Appointed an Aide — Banks and Banking 48 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

FROM DECEMBER, 1827 DECEMBER, 1828. 

A visit to New Orleans— Gen. Jackson at liome— A banquet in ISTashville— Incidents 
of the Battle of New Orleans— Anecdotes about Gen, Jackson— Threat to shoot 
a river pilot— Mrs. Jackson's Arrival at New Orleans — Entertainments— A negro 
ball — Mobile— Adventure with the Indians— Impressions of Gen. Jackson- 
Political manoeuvres— Offer of a position as aide-de-camp on Gov. Van Buren's 
staff— The offer declined, but the appointment made— Paper on banks and bank- 
ing 67 

CHAPTER V. 

FROM JANUARY, 1829 APRIL, 1829. 

Election of General Jackson to the Presidency— Formation of the Cabinet— Extract 
from letters— Gov. Van Buren Secretary of State— James A. Hamilton Acting Sec- 
retary—Letters from Mr. Van Buren to Majhr Eaton and to James A. Ham- 
ilton — The Evening Post and political affairs— The foreign appointments — Ap- 
plications for appointment to office — President Jackson's inaugural address — 
Memoranda on foreign affairs by Henry Clay — John Quincy Adams and Alex- 
ander Hamilton— Convention with Great Britain— Piracies— Depredations by 
inhabitants of New Brunswick — Treaty with Mexico — Social and political com- 
plications — Letters from Mr. Gallatin— Correspondence with "William Coleman 
— The Minister to France — How Mr. Eives was appointed — Excitement on 
removal 87 

CHAPTER VI. 

FROM APRIL 23, 1829— DECEMBER 16, 1830. 

Mr. Hamilton appointed District Attorney for the Southern District of New York — 
DiflBculties of the Position — Judgment against Edward Livingston — Its Settle- 
ment — Letters from Martin Van Buren — Instructions to Ministers Eives and 
McLaiie — Mr. Rhind's Negotiations with the Porto: — Mr. Van Buren on the 
Newspapers — The Eaton Affair considered in tlie Cabinet — A Long Account 
by Mr. Van Buren— General Jackson's Message— The National Bank — General 
Jackson and Congress — Memorial on the German Trade 140 — 

CHAPTER VII. 

FROM JANUARY. 1831 — JANUARY, 1834. 

Foreign affairs — Vindication against Mr. Calhoun's charges — Mr. Ehind and the 
horses presented by the Sublime Porte — The negotiations with the Sublime 
Porte — Resignation of Mr. Van Buren — Changes in the Cabinet — The jewels 
stolen from the Princess of Orange — Their recovery— The nullification move- 
ment — Gibbs the pirate — The United States Bank — Kesignation 193 - 



CONTENTS. VU 

CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM JANUARY, 1834 — MARCH, 1841. 

The Bank question — Views of President Jackson — Projects submitted — Letters from 
Mr. Van Buren — President Jackson refuses to modify liis plans — Efforts to aid 
the Government — Attempt to assassinate the President — War threatened — The 
great fire in the city of New York — Account of the way in whicla it was arrested 
— First visit to Europe — Sketches of distinguished people — A visit to Talley- 
rand 269 

CHAPTER IX. 

FROM MARCH, 1841 JULY, 1844. 

Letter to President Harrison on our relations with Italy, &c. — The Constitutionality 
of a United States Bank— Opinion of Wm. Beach Lawrence — Letter to Henry 
Clay — Second voyage to Europe — Visit to Russia — Object of the journey — Dif- 
ficulties with the Russian officials — An Appeal to the Emperor — Succes^^ful result 
— Notes on Russian manners and custonis — A Ball at the palace — Journey to 
England— Interview with Lord Aberdeen — Letter from Mr. Seward — The Dorr 
Insurrection 314 

CHAPTER X. 

FROM JULY, 1847 APRIL, 1848. 

Offer of services to the Government — The Chicago Internal Improvement Convention 
— Letters from Daniel Webster — xVffaii-s in the Papal Dominions — To England 
and France — Arrival at Florence — Outbreak of the Revolution in Tuscany — 
Government Institutions in the Papal States — Financial affairs — Military force — 
Population of Italy — Memorandum submitted to the Pope — Memorandum from 
an English gentleman — Reflections by J. A. Hamilton upon the political condi- 
tion of Italy — From Rome to Naples — An interview with Ibrahim Pacha, Vice- 
roy of Egypt — ^ A messenger from the Italian Liberals — Mr. Hamilton determines 
not to join the Committee — A warning of the rising — The Vienna Revolution — 
General uneasiness throughout the Continent — Holland — The Harlem Sea — In- 
cident of the Revolution in Paris — Letter from George Sumner 354 

CHAPTER XI. 

FROM 1850—1859. 

Neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama — The Panama Railroad — Communications to 
President Taylor and the Secretary of the Treasury — The yacht America — 
Particulars of her contests and victories — Letters from J. A. Hamilton to 
Samuel Rogers — Interesting^ letters from Hon. Edward Everett — Tlis oration on 
Washington— Mr. Everett's political views — Hamilton Fish on the Whig party 
and the Know Notbings — Suggestions to Lewis Cass — Letter from Lewis Cass 



Vm CONTENTS. 

— Call for a public meeting to arrest Disunion — Plan to assist in bringing the 
breadstuffs from the interior to tlie seaboard — E. H. Pendleton on Irving's Life 
of Washington — Letter from Gov. King on financial affairs — Fifth voyage to 
Europe — Letter to F, P. Blair — Hints upon political affairs — The President's 
power of appointment and removal — Letter from Daniel Webster on the politi- 
cal situation 393 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE KEBELLION. 

Preliminary Observations — Letter to the Hon. John Cochrane — The contest for 
the Speakership in tlie House of Representatives in 1860 — The Missouri Com- 
promise — Henry Clay and Samuel L. Southard — Effect of Eebellion on State 
Governments — Coinproraises of the Constitution — Letter to Thomas Cotsvrood 
Pinckney — Notes on ISTullification — Memorandum on Secession submitted to 
President Buchanan — Letters from J. M. Read and Hon. John Coclirane — Letter 
to Senator Morgan — Call for a Meeting to preserve the Union — Letter to Presi- 
dent Buchanan — Effort to reinforce Major Anderson in Foi-t Sumter — English 
sympathy with Southern Rebellion explained 440 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE KEBELLION, CONTINUED. 

An appeal to arms inevitable— Letters to President Lincoln, Secretary Chase, &c. — 
Letter from George Sumner — Offer of services — Visit to Washington — Inter- 
view with President Lincoln — Plan of operations suggested — Proposal to free 
the Negroes — Return to New York — Meeting with financiers — Results reported 
— Democratic Association of the Friends of Freedom— Suggestions to Mr. Chase 
— Letters to Sees. Cameron and Wells — Letter from Washington Hunt — Dr. 
Lieber — Kentucky , 468 



CHAPTER XIV. 

JANUARY, 1862 — DECEMBER, 1862. 

Letters to Mr. Chase on Banking Associations and Financial affairs— Restoration of 
the Rebellious States — Letter from Hon. S. Hooper — Emancipation meeting at 
Cooper Listitute — Address — Letter to Gov. Morgan on registering voters — Letter 
to Senator Sumner on the internal Slave trade — Letter to Charles Fames on the 
Slavery question — " Suggestions for the consideration of those who are much 
wiser than he who makes them " — Currency — Foreign Policy — The call of the 
President for volunteers — Arming the Negroes — Letter to President Lincoln on 
the crisis — Circular to Governors of the Loyal States — Raising troops — Inter- 
vieAvs and suggestions to Secretary Chase — President Lincoln 507 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XV. 

1863—1866. 

Suggestions to Mr. Oliase— Letter to Secretary Fessenden — Notes at interest and 
convertible — Texas, its true condition and means of treatment — Letter to Sena- 
tor Sumner— Napoleon and Mexico— Passage of Secretary Chase's banking 
bill—Selection of Mr. Olcott as Comptroller of the Currency — A suggestion 
about Savings Banks — Commission to inquire into the condition of the Freed- 
inen — The invasion of Pennsylvania— The riots in New York — Threatened dif- 
ficulty at Tarrytown— The enlistment of blacks — Eevenue to be derived from 
mines— Proposed act to abolish slavery — Levying export duties— Payment of 
the interest on the State debt in coin— The Chicago platform and the nomina- 
tions-Mr. Fessenden Secretary of the Treasury— Public lands and tlie public 
debt — False charges by the Confederate Congress 550 



APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX A. 

Eeport upon the condition of our foreign relations made to President Jackson by 
James A. Hamilton, acting Secretary of State 587 

APPENDIX B. 

A letter addressed to a distinguished member of the Chicago Convention 611 

APPENDIX C. 

Examination of the power of the President to remove from ofBce during the 
recess of the Senate 614^ 

APPENDIX D. 

Property in Man. Letter from Hon. James A. Hamilton on the Doctrine of the 
Constitution concerning Slavery 624 



REMIl^ISCElNrOES 



OF 



JAMES A. HAMILTON. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Birtli and parentage— Recollections of Alexander Hamilton— Letter from Philip 
Hamilton — Charges against Alexander Hamilton examined and disjtroved — 
Unworthy insinu.itions of James Madison— Correspondence regarding Hauteval — 
The French Mini-ter, Genet — Alexander Hamilton's professional life— Sketch 
of his career by liimself— Jefferson's charges and insinuations examined— Char- 
acters of Jefferson and Hamilton compared — Washington's opinion of Jefferson 
— Proof that Alexander Hamilton wrote Washington's Farewell Address- 
Hamilton's Financial System — Virginia State armory. 

In my seventj-ninth year I have employed a winter's leisure in committing 
to paper these recollections of a varied and somewhat eventful life. Without 
having been a principal actor in any of those affairs of public interest to which 
I shall refer, I have had peculiar opportunities for understanding the purposes 
and appreciating the characters of many of the leaders in these transactions, 
and T indulge the hope that I may now and then be able to throw a valuable 
side-light upon events in our past history, which, though they may have some- 
times been of merely local importance, were often of public interest and concern. 

Born in the city of New York on the 14th April, 1788, the third son of a 
family of six sons and two daughters, the children of Alexander Hamilton 
and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, daughter of Major-General Philip Schuy- 
ler, of the llevolution, my earliest recollection of my parents is a journey 
we made from Pliiladelphia to Albany by land, during the autumn of 1793. 
The yellow fever having broken out in Philadelphia, both my father and mother 
were attacked by the disease at the same time. As soon as they were sufficiently 
recovered they set out for Albany, where my maternal grandfather lived ; but 
60 great was the apprehension of contagion, that the family, when they arrived 
opposite to New York, were obliged to continue their journey on the west side 
of the river without going into the city, and on approaching Albany they were 
1 



2 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

required to halt until tliey obtained the permission of tlie public authorities to 
go to the house of General Schuyler, which was in the fields south of the city. 
During this illness of my parents they were attended by Dr. Edward Stevens, 
of St, Croix, the person to whom Hamilton addressed the following remarkable 
letter, written when he was 12 years old : 

" St. Croix, November 11, 1TG9. 
" To Edward Stevens. New York. 

"DeauISTed: — This serves to acknowledge the receipt of yours, per Captain 
Lowndes, which was delivered me yesterday. The truth of Captain Lightbower's 
and Lowndes' information is noAV verified by the presence of your father and sister, 
for Avhose safe arrival I pray, and that they may convey that satisfaction to your 
sonl that must naturally flow from the sight of absent friends in health, and shall for 
news tliis way refer you to them. As to what you say respecting your soon having the 
happiness of seeing us all, I wish for an accomi^lisbment of your liopes, provided they 
are concomitant wiili your welfare, otherwise not, tliough I doubt whether I shall 
be present or not, for to confess my weakness, Ned, my ambition is prevalent, so that 
I contemn tlie grovelling condition of a clerk,* or the like, to whicli my fortune con- 
demns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my 
station. I am confident, Ned, that my youth excludes me from any hopes of imme- 
diate preferment, nor do I desire it, but I mean to prepare the way for futurity. I 
am no philosopher, you see, and may justly be said to build castles in the air. My 
folly makes me ashamed, and beg you will conceal it. Yet Neddy we have seen 
such schemes successful wlien the projector is constant. I shall conclude by saying 
I wish there was a war. 

" P. S. I this moment received yours, by "William Smith, and am pleased to see 
you give such close application to study." 

After his recovery, Hamilton wrote the following letter to the physicians of 
Philadelphia : 

"It is natural to be afflicted, not only at the mortality which is said to obtain, 
but at the consequences of that undue panic whicii is fast depopulating the city and 
suspending business, both public and private. I have myself been attacked with 
the reigning putrid fever and witli violence, but I trust that I now am completely 
out of danger. This I am to attribute, under God, to the skill and care of my friend 
Dr. Stevens, a gentleman from tlie Island of St. Croix, and to wliose talents I can 
attest from an acquaintance begun in early youth." 

A, Hamilton to Mr. James Hamilton, St. Thomas. 

" New Youk, June 23, 1785. 
" My Deae Brotiiek : — I have received your letter of the 31st of May last, which 
and one other are the only letters I have received from you in many years. You 
did not receive one which I wrote to you about six monflis ago. The situation you 
describe yourself to be in gives me much pain, and notliing will make me happier 
than, as far as maybe in my power, to contribute to your relief." 

* Hamilton was born on the Hth January, iVoY. He was a clerk in the Counting House 
of Nicholas Crugcr, and in November, I'/Tl, as appears by his Counting House letters, was in 
charge of the business of that bouse in St. Croix. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A, HAMILTON. 6 

"I will cheerfully pay yonr draft upon me for fifty pounds sterling, whenever it 
shall appear. I wish it was in my power to desire you to enlarge the sum, but 
though my future prospects are of the most flattering kind, my present engagements 
would render it inconvenient to me to advance you a larger sum. My affection for 
you, however, will not i^ermit me to be inattentive to your welfare, and I hope time 
will prove to you, that I feel all the sentiments of a brother. Let me only request 
of you to exert your indfustry for a year or two more where you are, and at the end 
of that time I promise myself to be able to invite you to a more comfortable settle- 
ment in this country. Bnt what has become of our dear father? It is an age since 
I have heard from him or of him, thongh I have written him several letters. Per- 
haps, alas, he is no more, and I shall- not have the pleasing opportunity of contribut- 
ing to render the close of his life more happy than the progress of it. My heart 
bleeds at the recollection of his misfortunes and embarrassments. Sometimes I flat- 
ter myself his brothers have extended tlieir support to him ; and that he now enjoys 
tranquillity and ease. At other times I fear he is suffering ia indigence. Should 
he be alive, inform him of my inquiries ; beg him to write to me, and tell him how 
ready I shall be to devote mysfelf and all I have to his accommodation and happi- 
ness. 

"Believe me always, your affectionate friend and brother." 

Hamilton entered upon the duties of his office of Secretary of the Treasury 
on the 13th of September, 1789. On his resignation, 31sfc of January, 1795, he 
left Philadelphia and went to the house of General Schuyler, in Alban}^, where 
he remained until the summer, when he returned to New York and resumed his 
business as a lawyer. During the first year in New York he lived in a small 
house in Pine-street. From thence he removed to the house No. 24 Broadway, 
where he lived until 1802, when he removed to a country seat eight and a 
half miles from the city. This place he called the " Grrauge, " and here he con- 
tinued to live until his death in July, 1804. During his residence in the coun- 
try he generally drove back and forth in a two-wheeled carriage with a single 
horse. His family at that time consisted of his wife, five sons and two daughters 
(his eldest son Philip having been killed in a duel on the 24th of November, 
1802), and Fanny, the orphan child of Col. Autle (who was killed in the Rev- 
olutionary war). She was educated and treated in all respects as his own 
daughter, and married Mr. Tappau, an eminent philanthropist of New York. 

Hamilton's gentle nature rendered his house a most joyous one to his child- 
ren "and friends. He accompanied his daughter Angelica when she played and 
sang at the piano. His intercourse with his children was always afiectionate 
and confiding, which excited in them a corresponding confidence and devotion. 
I distinctly recollect the scene at breakfast in the front room of the house in 
Broadway. My dear mother, seated as was her wont at the head of the table with 
a napkin in her lap, cutting slices of bread and spreading them with butter for 
the younger boys, who, standing at her side, read in turn a chapter in the Bible 
or a portion of Goldsmith's, Rome. When the lessons were finished the father 
and the elder children were called to breakfast, after which the boys were pack- 



4 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A, HAMILTON. 

ed off to school. The following letters to his two children will perhaps be con- 
sidered by many sufl&ciently interesting to warrant me in printing them. 

To Philip Hamilton. 

" PniLADELPniA, December 5, 1791, 

" I received with great pleasure, my dear Philip, the letter which you wrote ine 
last week. Your mamma and myself were very happy to learn that you are pleased 
"with your situation and content to stay as long as shall be thought best for yon. We 
hope and believe that nothing will happen to alter this disposition. 

" Your master also informs us that you recited a lesson the first day you began, very 
much to his satisfaction. I expect every letter from him will give me a fresh proof 
of your progress, for I know you can do a great deal if you please, and I am sure you 
have too much spirit not to exert yourself that you may make us every day more aud 
more proud of you. 

" You remember that I engaged to send for you next Saturday, and I will do it un- 
less you request me to put it oif ; for a promise must never be broken, and I never will 
make you one which I will not fill as far as I am able ; but it has occurred to me 
that the Christmas holidays are near at hand, and I suppose your school will then 
break up for a few days and give you an opportunity of coming to stay with us for a 
longer time than if you should come on Saturday. "Will it not be best therefore to 
put off your journey till the holidays? but determine as you like best, and let me 
know what will be most pleasing to you. A good-night to my darling Son."' 

The following is copied from a mutilated paper : 

To Miss Angelica Hamilton. 

'•Sept. 21, 1793. 
" I was very glad to learn, my dear daughter, you were going to begin the study of 
the French language. We hope you will in every respect behave in such a maimer 
as will secure to you the good-will and regard of all those with whom you are. If 
you happen to displease any of them, be always ready to make a frank apology. But 
the best way is to act with so much politeness, good manners aud circumspection, as 
never to have an occasion to make any apology. Your mother joins in best love to 
you. Adieu, ray very dear daughter." 

Hamilton's kindness of disposition and generosity were not confined to his 
own family. He was always ready to give help to those in trouble ; even when 
he could ill afford it. I have a picture of my mother, painted by " T. Earle in 
1787." This precious relic is due to the benevolence of my fatlier. Mr. Earle, 
who was an artist of reputation, having been imprisoned for debt in New York, 
Hamilton induced my mother, then about 28 years of age, to go to the debtors' 
jail to sit for her portrait ; and she induced other ladies to do the same. By 
this means the artist made a sufficient sum to pay his debts. 

Hamilton induced the Holland Land Company to give Mrs. Robert Morris, the 
widow of the eminent financier of the Revolution, an annuity which supported 
her comfortably. He also obtained for his friend, Col. Troup, the agency of that 
Company in the western part of New York, by which he became quite indepen- 
dent if not Avealth3\ 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 5 

Col, Duer, a gallant soldier of the Revolution, -who gambled in the public 
stocks, was ruined and sent to jail by his creditors, where he remained for five 
years. Hamilton addressed to certain of Duer's creditors the following letter. 

" Dear Sir : 

" Poor Duer has now had a long and severe confinement, such as ■would be ade- 
quate punishment for no trifling crime. I am well aware of all the blame to which he 
is liable, and do not mean to be his apologist, though I believe he has been as much 
the dupe of his own iraaginatiou as others have been victims of his projects. But 
what then ? He is a man — he is man with whom we have both been in habits of 
friendly intimacy. He is a man who, with a great deal of good zeal, in critical times 
rendered valuable services to the country. He is a husband, who has a most worthy 
and amiable wife perishing with chagrin at his situation — your relative and mine. 
He is a father, who has a number of fine children destitute of the means of education 
and support, every w^ay in need of his future exertions. These are titles to sympa- 
thy which I shall be mistaken if you do not feel. You are his creditor, your esam.ple 
may influence others. He wants permission through a letter of license freely to 
breathe the air for five years. Your signature to the inclosed draft of one, will give 
me much pleasure. Your obt. servt. 

"A. Hamilton." 

/ Hamilton's means were not at any time large ; although at the time of 
his death his income was rapidly improving. Further on I shall examine 
the charge brought against him, that, by keeping his friends informed of the 
financial measures he was about to take, he enabled many of them to amass enor- 
mous fortunes, and will prove that these charges, first invented and then kept 
in circulation by Mr. Jefi'erson, had no foundation in truth. But whatever he 
may have been accused of doing for his friends ; no one, not even Mr. Jefi'erson, 
ever charged Hamilton with having made a fortune out of the ofiiceof Secretary 
of the Treasury. After he was admitted to the bar in New York, and until he 
was called to the Cabinet of Washington, he practised in New York, and was so 
successful as to be enabled to purchase certain houses and lots of land iu Wall- 
street, at that time one of the fashionable dwelling quarters. These houses 
were, however, sold while he held the ofl&ce of Secretary of the Treasury, and 
the balance, after paying a mortgage on them, went to the support of his family, 
for which his salary, three thousand dollars, was insufficient. When he returned 
to his practice after. his resignation, he formed an arrangement with Messrs. 
Thomas L. Ogden and Ludlow Ogden, two brothers, by which they performed 
the duty of attorney and received all the emoluments thereof, while Ham- 
ilton received the counsel fees. The arrangement was thus represented to me 
in the year 1 803 by Mr. Washington Morton, a lawyer in good standing, who 
had married my mother's sister. On a visit to the Grange, my uncle told me 
that the Messrs. Odgen were receiving a very large amount as the Attorneys 
of my father's business, of which he received no part, whereas if he were to re- 
ceive only one half of the sum his profits would be vastly increased. He then 
intimated that he would be much pleased to make an arrangement with my 



6 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

father, as his attorney, on such terms. I asked him why he did not propose it. 
He said he did not wish to interfere in the matter, but at the same time he ex- 
pressed a wish that I should make the proposition for him to my father. 

While we were living at the Grange I used to drive out with my father, and 
often accompanied him when he dined with his friend Gouverneur Morris, Dur- 
ing one of these drives, soon after my conversation with my uncle, I told my 
father what I had learned, and made the suggestion which Mr. Morton had re- 
quested. He rejDlied without hesitation, " No, my son ; if I received a part of 
the profits of that business, I should be responsible for it; as I cannot attend 
to it, I cannot consent to receive what I do not earn." I think it was durin-^- 
the same drive that he related the following anecdotes which, though not strictly 
in place here, may be inserted as giving a similar illustration of his integrity : 
" When I first came to the bar I happened to be in court when a woman was 
arraigned as a thief, who pleaded ' not guilty.' She had no counsel, and the 
court assigned me to that duty. I asked her what defence she had. She re- 
plied that she had none. The prosecution went on to prove the charge by cir- 
cumstantial evidence ; when that was closed the case was to be argued. I 
opened to the jury, and after endeavoring to destroy the connection of the cir- 
cumstances, I said : ' Gentlemen of the jury ; Woman is weak, and requires 
the protection of man ;' and upon this theme I attempted to awaken the 
sympathies of the jury, and with such success that I obtained a verdict of ' not 
guilty.' I then determined that I would never again take up a cause in which 
I was convinced I ought not to prevail." On another occasion a man from 
Long Island called upon him to retain him in a suit brought by the heirs of 
an estate of which he was the executor. He placed on the writing table near 
my father a large fee in gold, and then stated his case. Hamilton pushed the 
gold back to him, and said, "I will not be retained by you in such a cause. 
Take your money ; go home and settle without delay with the heirs, as you are 
in justice bound to do." 

The following letter, addressed by Hamilton to Mr. Gouverneur in 1792, is 
worthy of attention as manifesting a proper sensibility to the character of his 
profession : 



" Mr. B. last evening delivered me your letter, enclosing a copy of your corre- 
spondence with Mr. Lewis." * * * "In one other respect I feel myself paiu- 
' fiillj situated, having received a favorable impression of your character. I am sorry 
to observe any thing to have come from you which I am obliged to consider as ex- 
ceptionable. Your second letter to Mr. Lewis contains a general and of course an 
unjustifiable reflection on the profession to which I belong, and of a nature to put it 
out of my power to render you any service in the line of that profession. I readily 
believe you did not attend to the full force of the expression when you tell Mr, 
Lewis, ' Attorneys like to make the most of their bills of costs,' but it contains in it 
(itlier insinuations which cannot be pleasing to any man in the profession, and what 
must oblige any one that lias proper delicacy to decline the business of a person wlio 
professedly entertains such an idea of the conduct of this profession. I make allow- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 7 

ance for your feelings when you wrote that letter, and am therefore reluctantly drawn 
into these observations." 

Acting, as Hamilton uniformly did, upon such principles, it will not be sur- 
prising that he was long in reaching a point where his earnings were in any 
proper proportion to his great abilities or to his unflagging industi'y. 

James Madison, the Fourth President of the United States, and the 
associate of Hamilton in writing The Federalist^ fifteen days after his former 
intimate friend had withdrawn from the Department of the Treasury, addressed 
a letter to Mr. Jefferson, dated February 15, 1795, in which he says: " It is 
pompously announced in the newspapers that poverty drives llamillon hach to tlie 
lar for a livelihood^ This unworthy insinuation is best answered by the follow- 
ing facts : 

When Hamilton was a delegate from New York to Congress, he addressed 
the following letter to Governor Clinton : 

" PniLADELPniA, December 18, 1782. 

" Dear Sir : I shall very shortly be out of cash, and shall be much obliged to you 

to forward me the State allowance. It will answer as well in Mr. Morris's notes as 

in specie, provided the notes have not more than a fortnight or so to run. It will 

be better if they are due. A disappointment in this will greatly embarrass me, and 

from what your Excellency said, I take it for granted it cannot happen. Nothing new 

except a probable account of the evacuation of Charleston. I have the honor to be, 

with great esteem, 

" Your most obedient servant." 

On the 30th September, 1791, Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, 
wrote thus to a friend : 

"Dear Sir : If you can conveniently let me have twenty dollars for a few days, 
be so good as to send it by the bearer. I have just put myself out of cash by pay- 
ment of Major I'Enfauts' bill." 

" Memorandum by the lender : — ' Gave a check dated September 30, 1791, for fifty 
dollars.' " 

Talleyrand remarked to a friend : " I have beheld one of the wonders of 
the world. I have seen a man who has made the fortune of a nation laborincf 
all night to support his family." 

Talleyrand came to this country in 179-1:, with a letter of introduction to 
Hamilton from Mrs. Church, the sister of Mrs. Hamilton. He had occasion to 
pass Hamilton's office late at night and early in the morning, and each time saw 
Hamilton's lamp burning.* My father was so poor at his death that his pro- 

* Mr. George Ticknor, in a letter dated Januaiy, 1819, wiites : "Talking with Prince 
Talleyrand about his visit to America, he expressed the highest aduuration of Hamilton, 
Baying, among other things, that he had known nearly all the marked men of his time; btit 
that he had never known one, on the whole, equal to him. I was much surprised and grati- 
fied by the remark, but still feeling that as an American I was in some sort a party concerned 
by patriotism in the compliment, I answered with a little reserve, that the great military com- 
manders and statesmen of Europe had dealt with larger masses and wider interests than he 
had. ' Mais, Monsieur ! ' the Prince instantly replied, 'Hamilton avait divine TEurope !' " 



8 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

perty was not sufficient to pay Lis debts. Several of his friends advanced 
money for that purpose. 

Timothy Pickering to General Washington. 

" Trenton, October 20, 1798. 

" Sir : Recollecting your anxiety that General Pinckney might feel satisfied with 
the military arrangements of general oflScers proposed by yon, I seize the first 
moment to relieve you from it. TLiis morning Mr. McIIenry has received from 
General Hamilton a letter dated yesterday, in which is the following passage. 
After mentioning the arrival of General Pinckney, General Hamilton says : ' You 
will learn with pleasure that he sent me a message by young Eutledge, purporting 
his entire satisfaction with the military arrangements and readiness to serve under 
my command. Communicate this to our friends Pickering and Walcott, as I am not 
well enough to write them by this post.' I think in a former letter I expressed my- 
self confidently that General Pinckney's good sense and patriotism, joined with his 
great respect for you, would ensure his satisfaction with your arrangement. The 
correspondence between Talleyrand and Gerry, concerning X. Y. & Z., you will 
recollect oflended the delicacy of the latter gentleman, who avowed himself by the 
name of Hauteval, and addressed to Talleyrand a letter declaring ' that his delicacy 
could not but be severely hurt to see himself, under the appellation of Z, performing 
a part in the company with certain intriguers, whose object doubtless was to derive 
advantage from the credulity of the American envoys, and to make them their 
dupes.' The quality of this gentleman's delicacy you will see in the following extract 
of a letter from Mr. King, which I received this morning. 'Colonel Trumbull, who 
was at Paris soon after the arrival there of the commissioners, has more than once 
informed me that Hauteval told him that both the douceur and the loan were indis- 
pensable, and urged him to employ his influence with the American Commissioners 
to ofter the bribe as well as the loan.' The corruption of these scoundrels is 
unbounded. In the publication of the despatches from our envoys, although not 
enjoined secrecy in respect to Mr. Hauteval, yet as the envoys mentioned him with 
respectful language, I voluntarily substituted Z for his proper name. 

" I am with great respect, sir, your most obedient servant, &c." 

At a dinner party in New York, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary 
wai-, at which were present Messrs. Gr. Morris, John Jay, R. Harrison, John Dela- 
field, Robert Lenox, Nicholas Law, I. O.Hoffmann and Alexander Hamilton, 
the question was discussed whether the purchase of wild lands or of lots in the 
suburbs of the city would be the more profitable investment. John Jay was 
in favor of New York, and made purchases there, and as his means enabled him 
to hold his lots, his speculation made him rich. Hoffmann also bought land in 
the vicinity of the city. Some of the others, including my father, took the 
opposite view, and invested in the lands in the northern counties of the State. 
The wild lands were purchased at a few cents the acre, but they were not settled 
very rapidly.* After the death of Hamilton, it was found, as I h.ave already 

* It is said that the State of New York sold about seven millions of acres at eight cents 
an acre. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 9 

said, that his means were not equal to the payment of his debts, and several 
friends therefore advanced money for that purpose, taking these lands in pay- 
ment. 

Having learned that Major William Popham, one of the gentlemen -who had 
shown this kindness to my father, was at. an advanced period of life in poor cir- 
cumstances, I addressed him the following letter : 

" New York, October 14, 1824. 

" My deae Sir : I was this day for the first time informed by a person who be- 
came acquainted with the circumstance at the time it occurred, that you advanced 
one hundred dollars to pay my father's debts. The gratitude that is due to you 
from every meaiber of his family for this generous act can never be effaced. You 
must theref ire believe that I do not send you the enclosed cbecque for tl)e same 
sum in the liope of cancelling what is due to you, but in obedience to the sacred 
injunction of my father, and because under present circumstances it may promote 
your convenience. 

"I requested Mr. Pendleton, one of my father's executors, to inform me of the 
arrangements made to pay my father's debts, for at that time I was but young. He 
informed me with reluctance that my father's lands in Scriba's Patent had been 
taken by certain gentlemen in this city, whose names he would not mention, at 
prices which, he said, were perhaps a little more than they were worth at the time. 
These gentlemen hoped with the amount thus raised, and the sums due my father, to 
pay his debts and leave the Grange clear for his family. 

"I mention this to show you that I have not been indifferent to this very delicate- 
matter, and that if in my course tlirough life I should have come in collision witli 
any of those persons (with you, I am happy to say, I am sure I have not) to whom 
I am indebted for these or similar acts of generous devotion to my father's memory,, 
it has been in ignorance, and must always be to me a subject of deep and mortifying 



regret. 



" "With great regard, your friend and obedient servant, 

" James A. Hamilton." 

During a visit I made to Boston, I was the guest of the Hon. George Cabot. 
He then related to me the following anecdote as to the French Minister Genet. 
The conduct of this French Minister was most outrageous ; so much so that 
Washington, after long forbearance, under the urgent advice of his friends,, 
decided to give him notice that the Government would hold no further official, 
intercourse with him. This, which was then considered a very hazardous 
measure, it was believed would require the support of all the friends of the 
administration. John Adams, the Vice-President, was considered a very uncer- 
tain man, and the task was committed to me to take care that he should not go 
wrong on this occasion. I accordingly called upon Mr. Adams in the morning 
at an early hour, and after a few incidental remarks, said : 

" Mr. Adams, this French Minister's conduct seems to me to be most objection- 
able." 

IMk. Adams. — " Objectionable ? It is audacious, Sir! " 



; 
* 



10 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Me. Cabot.— "I think if you were President, you would not permit him to per- 
form his office very long ! " 

Mil. Adams. — " Not an liour, Sir ! I would dismiss him immediately." 

Mi:. Cabot. — " I wish you would allow me to say to the President that such are 
your views ! " 

Me. Adams. — " Certainly, Sir ! I will say so to the President myself, when I 
see him." 

The work was done. Before night, it was known that Genet was dismissed, 
and Mr. Adams was gratified to believe his opinion had influenced the course 
of the President. This is the inside view of one of the events of Washington's 
administration. AYhcn Fauchet, Genet's successor, arrived, it was ascertained 
that he came with orders to send the disgraced Minister home, and it was 
reported that measures were in progress to take him by force, put him on board 
a vessel, and send him to Prance. The Minister was informed by our govern- 
ment that this could not be done. It was next suggested that a party should 
be given on board a French war-vessel then in the Delaware river, to which Genet 
should be invited, and that when he was once under the French flag, he should 
be detained and carried ofi". This plan was submitted to our government. 
Hamilton earnestly advised the President that the French Minister should be 
informed "that no such stratagem could be permitted," on the ground that if 
he were taken to France he would be executed, and the President's connivance 
would be sure to be imputed by his enemies to motives of resentment. This 
advice was adopted, and Genet remained in this country. He married a 
daughter of George Clinton, Governor of the State of New York, and left a 
family of children. 

Governor, Clinton and the Federalists. 
I also remember this little personal anecdote of Governor Clinton. The 
Convention called to discuss the question of the adoption of the Federal Con- 
.stitutiou by the State of New York, met at Poughkeepsie in the summer of 
1788. Two thirds of the members were opposed to adoption. Governor Clinton 
was elected to preside. The debates ran very high, and Clinton, unable to 
•contain his impatience under the arguments of the Federalists, rose from his 
.seat, and, leaving the room, walked for some time up and down the piazza. 

General Henry Clinton. 

General Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in America, 
while New York was in possession of the English, lived at the corner of Broad- 
•way and what is now called Battery-Place. At that time the water of the 
Hudson washed the west end of the yard or garden attached to that house, 
where there was a summer-house in which Clinton was in the habit of taking 
a nap in the afternoon. The famous Light-horse Lee, hearing of this habit, 
formed a plan to cross the Hudson to the foot of the garden at low tide, land, 
;and seize the General while asleep and carry him off prisoner. When all was 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 11 

arranged, Lee informed General Washington of his purpose. Washington 
consulted Hamilton, who promptly advised the General to forbid it • "for " said 
he, " should Clinton be made a prisoner it would be our misfortune, since the 
British Government could not find another commander so incompetent to se-iid 
in his place." 

The following incidents, relating to my father's professional life in New 
York, may be stated here. " On one occasion, when Hamilton went to the poll 
in the Seventh Ward, he was attacked by a well-known rough, named Tunis 
Wortman, who called him a Tory, swore that he ran away from the British 
Army, and endeavored to prevent him from addressing the people as he had in- 
tended. Hamilton told Wortman to call out one of the leaders of his party to 
discuss with him the subject then before the people. Two or three months 
afterwards Tunis was prosecuted for a serious offence, and he came to Hamilton 
to engage him to defend his cause. This Hamilton consented to do, but re- 
fused the fee that was offered ; and as Wortman was taking his leave, my father 
said to him, ' Tunis, why don't you employ B. or M. ? ' ' Oh, Colonel,' said 
he, ' I served in your company during the war, and I know you will do me jus- 
tice in spite of my rudeness.' ' Yes, Tunis,' replied Hamilton, ' I have not 
forgotten you. I remember you as the only man I ever ordered to be punished 
for disobedience.' " 

In the case of the People against Croswell, the editor of a newspaper, who 
was indicted for a libel upon President Jefferson, Ambrose Spencer, Attorney- 
General, was the prosecutor, and Hamilton appeared for the defendant. The 
defence rested upon a question of law. Judge Lord Mansfield had decided 
that the truth couWjiot be given in_eyidence, for according to that greatauthoxi- 
ty, the greater the truth, the greater the libel. Hamilton, when the trial came 
on, proposed to give the truth in evidence. This was resisted, and the judge, 
in obedience to the well-received law of that day, rejected the e.vidence. The 
case was carried up to the Supreme Court upon this decision and argued at 
the bar. Hamilton's definition of a libel was in these words : " A libel is a 
censorious or a ridiculous writing, picture or sign, made with a mischievous or 
malicious intent towards governments, magistrates or individuals." This was ulti- 
mately adopted by the Court, enacted by a statute and introduced into the Con- 
stitution of this State in 1822. In the same argument Hamilton defined the liber- 
ty of the Press to consist "in publishing the truth from good motives and for 
justifiable ends, though it reflect on magistrates, governments or individuals, and 
if so published, the truth may be given in evidence." The Court, consisting or- 
dinarily of five judges, though at that time there were four present, were divid- 
ed in opinion on the question. Judges Lewis and Livingston were of opinion 
that the truth was no justification. Judges Thompson and Kent were of opinion 
that it was when published with good motives and for justifiable ends, and they 
of course sustained Hamiltou's views. 

John Johnston, a merchant of high standing in New York, kept a common 
place book from which I copy the following item : 



12 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON, 

" I was present wlien Hamilton made liis justly celebrated speech in tlie Su- 
preme Court of the State of New York in defence of Croswell, who was tried for 
publishing a libel on Mr. Jefferson, then President of the United States. It was indeed 
a most extraordinary effort of human geniiis. Never, ala^, shall I again be charmed 
by the accents of that tongue, now cold in the grave. Thei-e was not, I do believe, 
a dry eye in court, and yet the subject had nothing of the pathetic in it, nor was 
there the least appearance of jsn attempt to excite the tender feelings of the audience. 
The beautiful and tender manner in which he spoke of the character of General 
"Washington, and the affecting appeal he made to every one present, whether, under 
our present government, the most worthless part of tlie community did not usurp 
the situation of the most deserving and meritorious, produced an effect that literally 
threw the audience into tears." '"^ 

In the great case of Le Gue^, Gouverneur, and Kemble, which was ultimate- 
ly decided in the Court of Errors, so deep was the interest from the array of 
counsel — Hamilton, Burr and others for Le GuejA, Gouverneur Morris and 
others for Gouverneur and Kemble — that the Court permitted the counsel to 
speak again and again, out of the ordinary course. Morris's commanding figure, 
melodious voice and authoritative manner, made a great impression. After 
speaking in praise of what Hamilton had said, he used these words : " Before 
I have done I am confident I shall make my learned friend cry out, ' Help me, 
Cassius (pointing to Burr), or I sink.' " When Hamilton's turn came to reply, 
he treated Morris with great courtesy, reviewed his arguments without mercy — 
exposing all their weakness, and then alluded to the boast of his friend in a 
strain of irony that turned the laughter of the Court and audience against 
him. This so deeply offended Morris that years afterward, at his own house, 
referring to that discussion, he said to me, " I never forgave your father for his 
speech on that occasion." 

On the same day after the court had closed, there was a dinner given to the 
counsel, judges and others, by Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, the Patroon. 
Hamilton went to his father-in-law's. General Schuyler's, to dress for dinner, Mor- 
ris and the rest to the Patroon's. When Hamilton arrived, Van Rensselaer 
met him at the door, and to put him on his guard informed him that Morris was 
in a very bad humor. Hamilton went into the room, approached Morris most 
amiably, and said : " My friend, you will rejoice, I hope, that by Cassius's help 
I meet you here with our friends at dinner ! " Morris was not proof against 
the bonhommie of this attack; he swallowed his resentment for awhile and the 
party passed off pleasantly. Morris was full of resources and remarkable for 
his colloquial powers, and made a much better impression at the dinner-table than 
as an advocate in court. 

This reminds me of what George Cabot told me when I was staying at his 
house in Boston. 

"I never give dinners ; but Morris came to Boston, and having known him well 
in the good old times, I felt it due to him to make up a party fur him. I invited 
Fisher Ames to meet him, with Harrison Gray Otis, and others of that stamp. After 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 13 

the cloth was removed I introduced as a subject of conversation, ' How lono- can 
Great Britain sustain her load of debt?' I briefly expressed my own views : all 
waited to hear Morris, who, with great force and knowledge of the subject, presented 
his. "When he had finished there was a pause ; we drank, and all eyes were turned 
to Ames, who was admitted to be our best talker, xis you know, he was then in 
feeble health, and he began in his low, melodious tone with evident weakness, to ex- 
press his views, which ditfered widely from those of Morris. He was thoroughly 
acquainted with the subject, which, by the way, was very frequently discussed at 
that time ; and talked in his best vein with singular clearness and eloquence. Mor- 
ris was all attention. I watched him closely. The fir»t clear indication on his coun- 
tenance of what was passing in his mir'^was— -' He talks well.' The next — 'He 
talks as well as I do.' And at last, as Ames warmed with his subject, ' He talks 
better than T do." 

Cabot I remember well. He was one of the best talkers of the day, and one 
of the most intelligent, upright, amiable and excellent of men. He was in 
public life during the first two administrations. 

The following is a letter by Hamilton to a young friend, who communi- 
cated it anonymously to the editor of the Evening Post. 

"April 13, 1804. 

" Dear Sie : The Post of to-day brought me a letter from you, and another from 

Mr. . I have no doubt but the latter would serve vou if he could ; but he can- 

not, at this time. 

" On the whole, I would advise you to return to iSTew York, and accept any 
respectable employment in your way, till an opportunity of something better shall 
occur. 'Tis by patience and perseverance that we can expect to vanquish ditticul- 
ties, and better an unpleasant condition. 

"Arraign not the dispensations of Providence ; they must be founded in wisdom 
and goodness ; and when they do not suit us it must be because there is some fault 
in ourselves v/hich deserves chastisement, or because there is a kind intent to cor- 
rect in us some vice or failing of which, perhaps, we may not be conscious ; or be- 
cause the general plan requires that we should suffer partial ill. 

" In this situation, it is our duty to cultivate resignation and even humility, bear- 
ing in mind, in the language of the poet, that it was 'Pride icJdch lost the blest 
abodes.'' 

" With esteem and regard, &c. " 

Alexander Hamilton and John Wells. 

The last was a very distinguished lawyer at the New York bar. Among 
his private papers was recently found a lock of Hamilton's hair. On the 
paper containing it was the following endorsement in the handwriting of John 
Wells. 

"A lock of the hair of that head which, filled with the brightest intellect, en- 
lightened every subject on which it cast its beams. I cherish it with the warmest 
devotion as a relic which calls to mind all that is great and good and amiable in 
the human character. " 



14 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

I have italicised such Yiavts of the following letters, written by my father 
to my aunt Mrs. Church, in London, as refer to his pecuniary condition, to prove 
that the implied imputation of Madison, above stated, was as groundless as it 
was malicious. 

Alexander Hamilton to his Sister, Mrs, Church, in London. 

" Philadelphia, December 8, 1794. 

"You say I am a politician, and good for nothing. "What will von say when 
you learn that after January nest, I shall cease to be a politician at all ? So is the 
fact. I have formally and definitely announced my intention to resign at that period, 
and have ordered a house to be taken for me at New York. 

" My dear Eliza has been lately very ilL Thank God, she is now quite recovered, 
except that she continues somewhat weak. My absence on a certain expedition 
was the cause (with army to suppress the whisky insurrection in Pennsylvania). 
You will see, notwithstanding your disparagement of me, I am still of conserpience 
to her. 

'"Liancourt has arrived, and has delivered yonr letter. 1 pay him the attentions 
due to his misfortunes and his merits. I wisli I was a Croesus ; I might then afford 
solid consolations to these children of adversity, and how delightful it would be to 
do so. Bid now, sympathy, kind words, and occasionally a dinner ^ are all I can con- 
trihute. 

" Don't let Mr. Church be alarmed at my retreat — all is well with the public. 
Our insurrection is most happily terminated. Government has gained by it repu- 
tation and strength, and our finances are in a most flourishing condition. Having 
contributed to ]ilaee those of the Nation on a good footing, I go to talce a little care of 
my own ; tchich need my care not a little. 

" Love to Mr. Church. Betsy will add a line or two. Adieu." 

Same to Same. 

" Albany, March 6, 1795. 
" To indulge in my domestic happiness the more freely, was with me a principal 
motive for relinquishing an office in which 'tis said I have gained some glor\-, and the 
difficulties of which had just been subdued. Eliza and our children are with me 
here at your father's house, who is himself at Xew York attending the Legislature. 
"We remain here till June, when we become stationary at I^ew York, where I resume 
the practice of the law. For, my dear sister, I tell you without regret what I hope 
you anticipate, that I am poorer than wheii I went into office. I allot myself full four 
or six years of more work than will be pleasant, thougli much less than I have had 
for the last five years." 

Hamilton, in a private letter dated June 26, 1792, wrote thus : 

" Tiie Legislature might reasonably restrain its officers from future buying and 
selling of stociv, but could not reasonably prevent them making a disposition of 
property which they had previously acquired according to the laws of their country. 
All my property in tlie funds is about 800 dollars 3 per cents. These at a certain period 
I should have sold had I not been unwilling to give occasion to cavil." * 



* This stock was sold by Mr. Wolcot to pay Hamilton's small debts -when he left Phila- 
delphia. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 15 

The following letter, dated April 21st, 1797, was addressed by Philip Ham- 
ilton to his father Alexander Hamilton at Albany. 

"Dear Papa: I just now received the enclosed letter from grandpapa 
(Schuyler), in answer to a letter I wrote to him, in which he has enclosed to me 
three receipts for shares in the Tontine Tavern, amounting to £100. I have given tlie 
receipts to mamma. 

" I delivered my speech to Dr. Johnson to examine. He has no objection to my 
speaking; but he has blotted out that sentence which appears to be the best and 
most animated in it ; which is, you may recollect it — 

'■'■Americans, you hate fougM the battles of manTcind ; you have enMndled that 
sacred fire of freedom which is noic,'''' &c. Dear papa, will you be so good as to give 
my thanks to grandpapa for the present he made me, but above all for the good 
advice his letter contains — which I am very sensible of its being extremely necessary 
to me to pay particular attention to in order to be a good man. I remain your most 
aifectionate son. 

" P. S. You will oblige me very much by sending back the letter I have enclosed 
to you." 

A letter written by A. Hamilton to a relative in Scotland, in 1799, who bad 
requested to know some particulars of his life, reads thus : 

" I came to this country about tlie age of sixteen, and having always had a 
strong propensity to literary pursuits, by a course of study and laborious exertions I 
was able at the age of nineteen to qualify myself for the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
in the College of New York, and to lay a foundation by preparatory study of the 
future profession of the law. The American Eevolution supervened. My principles 
led me to take part in it. At nineteen I entered into the American army as cap- 
tain of artillery, and shortly after I became, by his invitation, aid-de-camp to General 
Washington ; in which station I served till the commencement of that campaign 
which ended with the siege of Yorktowu, Virginia, and the capture of Lord Corn- 
wallis's army. This campaign I made at the head of a corps oflight-infiintry, with 
which I Avas present at the siege of York, and engaged in some interesting opera- 
tions. At the period of the peace with Great Britain, I found myself a member of 
Congress by appointment of the Legislature of this State. After the peace I settled 
in the City of New York, in the practice of the law, and was in a very lucrative 
course of practice when the derangement of our public afiairs by the feebleness of 
the general confederation drew me again, reluctantly, into public life. I became a 
member of the Convention which framed the present Constitution of the United 
States, and having taken part in this measure I conceived myself to be under an obli- 
gation to lend my aid towards putting the machine in motion. Hence I did not 
hesitate to accept the offer of President Washington to undertake the office of Secre- 
tary of the Treasury. In that office I met with many intrinsic difficulties and 
manv^artificial ones, proceeding from passions not very worthy but common to 
human nature ; and wliich act with peculiar force in republics. The object however 
was etlectual of establishing public credit and introducing order into the finances. 

" Public office in this country bas few attractions. Tlie pecuniary emolument is so- 
inconsiderable as to amount to a sacrifice to any man who can employ his time with 
advantage in any liberal profession. The opportunity of doing good, from the jcal- 



16 REMINISCENCES OE JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ousy of power, and the spirit of faction, is too small in any station to warrant a 
long continuance of private sacrifices. Tlie enterprises of party Lad so far succeeded 
as materially to weaken the necessary influence and energy of the executive authority, 
and so far diminished the power of doing good in that department, as greatly to take 
away the motives which a virtuous man might have for making such sacrifices. The 
prospect was even bad for gratifying in future the love of fame, if that passion was 
to be the spring of action. The union of these motives with the reflection of 
prudence in relation to a growing family, determined me as soon as my plan had ob- 
tained a certain maturity, to withdraw fx'om office. This I did in the year 1795, by 
resignation, when I resumed the profession of the law (as counsellor) in New York, 
under every advantage I could desire. 

"It is a i^leasing reflection to me that since the commencement of my connexion 
with General Washington, to the present time, I have possessed a flattering share of 
his confidence and friendship. In the year 1780, I married the second daughter of 
General Schuyler, a gentleman of one of the best families in this country, of large 
fortune, and of no less personal and public consequence. It is impossible to be hap- 
pier than I am in a wife, and I have eight children, the eldest a son somewhat past 
seventeen, who all promise well as far as their years permit, and promise me much 
satisfaction. Though T have been too much in public life to be wealthy, my situation 
is extremely comfortable, and leaves me nothing to wish but a continuance of health. 
With this blessing, the profits of my profession and other prospects authorize an 
expectation of such addition to my resources as will render the eve of life easy and 
agreeable, so far as may depend on this consideration." 

The references to houses and lots to be hired or purchased for Mrs. Church, 
in these letters, calls to my recollection the condition of the lower part of Broad- 
way in these days. The west side below Trinity Church was, with one excep- 
tion, built up and occupied by gentlemen of fortune ; the exception was the 
south corner of Morris- street, where there was a small gun-shop. On the east 
side the same private dwellings, with two exceptions, one a shoemaker's, two 
doors north of my father's residence, the other a small wooden house next south 
of Governor Jay's house. This was owned and occupied by Slidell, a German 
candle-maker (the grandfather of the notorious John Slidell). This little man 
was often seen in the afternoon sitting on his wooden stoop, in his apron and 
cap, smoking his pipe, the dipped candles hanging at the window. 

Mr. Jeffersox, ms "Ana" axd his Letters. 

JeiFerson in his writings, Vol. 4, pp. 446, 447, referring to the funding 
system, says : " This game was over, and another was on the carpet at the 
moment of my arrival." (This is not correct.) His arrival at the scat of 
Grovernment was in March, 1790, as he states. Tlie funding Act was not passed 
until August following. It cannot be believed that, during the four months he 
Avas in the Cabinet, he was ignorant of the proposed financial measures ; they 
were, at that time, the most interesting questions presented for consideration. 
" This fiscal manoeuvre is well known by the name of the assumption." * * 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 17 

'^ And the more dclt Hamilton could ralce up, the more |)^M?jfZcr for his merce- 
naries,'''' Concerning the duty of assuming the debts of the States, incurred in the 
prosecution of the war for the common defence, Hamilton said in his report : 

" The general principle of it seems equitable, for it appears difficult to conceive a 
good reason why the expenses for the particular defeuce of a part iu a common war 
should not be a common charge as well as those incurred professedly for the general 
defence. The defeuce of each part is that of the whole, and unless all the expendi- 
tures are brought into a common mass, the tendency must be to add to the calamities 
suffered by being the most exposed to the ravages of war and increase of burthens." 

The debt incurred by the States was, as Hamilton said, '' A part of the 
price paid for Independence." The report proves conclusively that to assume 
these debts by the United States would expose the people of the States to 
lighter burthens than they would be under by the expense of two systems of taxa- 
tion, one by the United States and the other by the States. Perhaps the most 
conclusive answer to all the condemnation of " the assumption " to which its 
author was exposed is to be found in the fact that the continued policy of the 
United States from that time to this (1866), has been to assume and pay the 
debts of the States incurred in the common defence and for the general welfare. 

The charge against Hamilton is, substantially, that he enabled his myrmi- 
dons to amass fortunes by informing them of the measures to be pursued by 
him. Mr. Jefferson has said : " Proof is the duty of the affirmative side. A 
negative cannot be possibly proved." In relation to the charges he has deliber- 
ately made against Hamilton of the most damning character, he has not in a 
single case offered, or attempted to offer, any proof whatever. 

The following negative proof will, by the candid, be considered as conclusive 
against Mr. Jefferson's naked assertion. 

Henry Lee, a gallant soldier of the Revolution, afterwards Governor of Vir- 
ginia, addressed to his friend Hamilton the following letter : 

"EicnMOND, Nov. 16, 1789. 

" My dear Sir : — Your undertaking is truly arduous, but I trust as you progress 
in the work difficulties will vanish. From your situation you must be able to form 
with some certainty an opinion concerning the domestic debt ; will it speedily rise ? 
will the interest accruing command specie, or anything nearly as valuable — what will 
become of the indents already issued ? 

" These queries are asked for my private information. Perhaps they may be im- 
proper. I do not think them so, or I would not propound them. Of this you will de- 
cide, and act accordingly — nothing can induce me to be instrumental in submitting 
my friend to an impropriety. 

" I wrote to General Knox sometime ago, enclosing a letter to St. Clair ; will you, 
before you answer me, know whether my letter was i-eceived. 

" The anti-federal gentlemen in our own assembly do not relish the amendments 
proposed by Congress to the constitution. Yours always and affectionately, 

" Henry Lee. 
"To Col. Alexander Eamilton." 

2 



18 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

To tliis letter Hamilton replied : 

"New Yoek, Dec. 1, 1789. 

" My dear Friend : — I received your letter of the 16tli of ISTovember. I am sure 
yon are sincere wlien you say that you would not subject me to an impropriety, nor 
do I know there would be any ia answering your queries; but you remember the 
saying with regard to Ca?sar's wife. I think the spirit of it applicable to every man 
concerned in the administration of the finances of the country. "With respect to 
the conduct of such men, siiqikion is ever eagle-eyed, and the most innocent things 
may be misinterpreted. Be assured of the atfection and friendship of yours.'" 

A similar application made by Herman Le Roy, a member of the distinguish- 
ed mercantile firm in New York of Le Roy, Bayard & Co., " in order that his 
Dutch friends might speculate," was answered in the same way. 

Hamilton recpiested his father-in-law, General Schuyler, not to permit his 
son to speculate in the public securities lest it should be inferred that their 
speculations were made upon information furnished by Hamilton ; or were made 
in part on Hamilton's account. Schuyler inhibited any speculations ; as Van 
Rensellaer Schuyler, my uncle, told me, complaining at the same time that, but 
for this inhibition, he would have made a large sum of money. 

Col. Piatt, a worthy gentleman, an oihcer in the Revolutionary army, told 
me that lie had applied to his friend Hamilton for information in relation to his 
proposed fiscal system without success. 

Mr. Jefferson proceeds, Vol. 4, p. 449 : 

" The assumption was passed, and twenty millions of stock divided among favor- 
ed States and thrown in as a paiulum to the stock -jobbing herd. This added to the 
number of votaries to the Treasury, and made its chief the master of every vote in 
the Legislature'" * * * " Still, the machine was not complete. The eftectofthe 
funding system and of the assumption w^ould be temporary " * * " and some engine 
of influence more permanent must be contrived while these myrmidons were still 
in place to carry it through without opposition. This engine was the Bank of the 
United States." 

He goes on (p. 450, Vol. 4,) to insist that, through that institution, the members 
of Congress were corrupted and thus devoted to their Chief." 

Mr. Madison, a member of Congress, opposed the Bank as unconstitutional. 
Mr. Jefferson a member of Washington's Cabinet endeavored to induce the 
President to veto the bill, on that ground : afterwards, when Jefferson was 
President, he approved an Act of Congress authorizing a branch of that Bank 
to be established at New Orleans. Mr. Madison, in 1815, in a message to 
Congress, recommended a Bank of the United States, which was chartered in 
1816. 

Jefferson in 181G (Vol, 4, p. 285) said: 

"A third measure should insure resources of money by the suppression of 
all paper circulation during peace, and licensing that of the nation {a paper circulation) 
alone during the war * * * of proper denominations for circulation." 

Mr. Jefferson, in 1813, was earnestly in favor of a funding system identical 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 19 

with that recommended by Hamilton. In a letter to John W. Epes, a mem- A 
ber of the House of Kepresentatives, dated June the 24th, 1812 (Vol. 4, p. 196), 
he writes : — 

" It is a wise rule, and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish 
its credit, and, at the same time, to restrain the use of it within the limit of its facul- 
ties, nsver to borrow a dollar without laying a tax on the same instant for paying 
the interest annually and the principal within a given term, and to consider that tax 
as pledged to the creditor on the public faith." 

As we have already seen, Hamilton, in his first report 9th of January, 1790, 
and in his report of January 20th, 1795, expresses the same idea in a better 
manner. 

The Parliament of Great Britain, after the first report by Hamilton, " form- 
ally adopted as a standing rule the principle of incorporating with the creation 
of debt the means of extinguishment." 

In 1813 this principle was violated by Vansittart, Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, and the consequence was, as Palmerston declared in 1865 — referring 
to Gladstone's administration of the finances ; 

" We have succeeded in making, fur the first time, some noteworthy impression - 
on the public debt." 

The Characters of ths Two Gentlemen. 

Jefferson says ("Writings, Vol. 4, p. 451), 

"Hamilton was indeed a singular character, of acute understanding, disinterest-- 
ed, honest and honorable in all private transactions, amiable in society', and duly 
valuing virtue in private life — yet so bewitched and perverted by the British example 
as to be under thorough conviction that corruption was essential to the government 
of a nation." 

This is the testimony of Jefferson — " disinterested, Jwnest and honorahk — ■- 
dull/ valuing virtue in in iv ate life,'''' and yet Jefferson distinctly represents this- 
man as having misrepresented the amount of the debt of the United States in 
order to have more enlarged means of corrupting Congress ; and, further, that 
he afforded his myrmidons such information as would enable them to filch the 
property of others less informed than they. 

Now as to the authority due to Jefferson's statements : — During the discus- 
sion on Foot's Kesolution in the Senate of the United States in 1830, Mr„ . 
Benton being entitled to the floor — Mr. Clayton said, " that he desired the per- 
mission of the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Benton) who was entitled to the 
floor, to call the attention of two of the honorable members of this body, Mr. . 
Smith of Maryland and Mr. Livingston of Louisiana, to a passage in a book 
which had been cited in this debate by the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. . 
Hayne) as authority on another subject. He did not rise for the purpose of ' 
discussing the resolution itself. His attention had been called by a number of" 



20 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

members of this House to a passage in the same book : another j^art of which 
had been referred to by the Senator from South Carolina. That passage charged 
an illustrious statesman, -who formerly occupied the seat of a Senator here, 
and whose memory and fame were dear to himself and to the people he repre- 
sented, with atrocious corruption, of which he was convinced that great and good 
man could never have been guilty; and as the witnesses referred to in the book 
itself were present and ready to give testimony to set the charge at rest, he 
hoped he should be pardoned for referring to the objectionable passage in their 
presence." 

He then read, from the 4th Vol. of Jeiferson's Memoirs, page 515, (the 
same volume which had been brought into the Senate by General Hayne,) the 
following passage : 

" February the 12, 1801. Edward Livingston tells me that Bayard applied to- 
day or hist niglit to General Samuel Smith, and represented to him the expediency 
of his coming over to the States who vote for Burr ; that there was nothing in the 
way of appointment which he might not command ; and particularly mentioned the 
secretarysliip of the navy. Sinitli asked him if he was authorized to make the 
offer. lie said he was authorized. Smith told this to Livingston, and to W. 0. 
Nicholas, who confirms it to me," &c. 

He then called upon the Senators from Maryland and Louisiana, referred 
to in this passage, to disprove the statement here made. 

Mr. Smith of Maryland, rose and said : " That he had read tlie paragraph before 
he came here to-day, and was therefore aware of its import. He had not tlie most 
•distant recollection that Mr. Bayard had ever made such a proposition to him. Mr. 
Bayard, said he, and myself, though politically opposed, were intimate personal 
friends, and he was an honorable man. Of all men, JMr. Bayard would have been 
■the last to make such a proposition to any man ; and I am confident that he had too 
much respect for me, to have made it under any circumstances. He never received 
from any man any such proposition. " 

Mr. Livingston of Louisiana, said: "That as to the precise question which had 
"been put to him by the Senator from Delaware, he must say, that having taxed his 
recollection as far as it could go, on so remote a transaction, he had no remem- 
T^rance of it. " 

Mr. Clayton, said : " llis purpose had been achieved. He thought it his duty to 
vindicate the honor and fame of his predecessors against unjustifiable imputations, 
•no matter to what party they may have belonged. The character of the illustrious 
Bayard would, he trusted, stand forever untarnished by the charge of corruption. " 

As to Jefferson's character for veracity. The conclusive evidence of his 
disregard of truth, afforded by what occurred in the Senate, as above stated, 
induced Col. Thomas Benton to declare in his place in the Senate : 

" He, ( Jefiferson,) was repudiated as a witness by the testimony of two distin- 
guished members of that body. Happily for the honor of the country, and the reputa- 
tion of those men whose superiority in wisdom and virtue caused him to hate and 
•vilify them, he has ceased to be considered as entitled to belief. His assertions 



REMINISCEXCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 21 

even in regard to matters of whicli lie pretends to be cognizant, require other sub- 
sidiary proof to entitle him to consideration. This is, now, the judgment of man- 
kind. " 

The writer was present, having been informed by Mr. Benton of his pur- 
pose, and immediately made a note of what he said. No person in the Senate 
manifested a disposition to question what was said. 

John Johnston, a merchant in New York, of respectability, kept a common- 
place book which has been put into my hands. 

Under date of January 21, 1801, I find the following: 

" General Washington in conversation with General Hamilton to-day said : 'ITr. 
Jefferson was a most profound hypocrite, and less under tlie influence of philosoph- 
ical reveries than is commonly imagined. ' He gave the following statement to 
confirm his opinion : ' When Mr. JeiFerson resigned the office of Secretary of State, 
he and his friends gave out that he was tired of public affairs, and meant to live in 
retirement. He even went so far as to forbid newspapers being brought to his 
house.' (Jefferson's letter confirms this.) 'Soon after this, General Hamilton 
met General Washington, and the conversation turned on Mr. Jefferson's retiring 
from public business, when General Washington expressed his hopes that he would 
meet iu retirement with the happiness he expected, and his wish that he also could 
retire. Oh ! Sir, said Hamilton, I fear Mr. Jefferson only retires at present, to 
come forward at a future time with more certainty and effect. I believe him to be 
a most profound hypocrite, and should be not surprised to see him again a candidate 
for the office of President of the United States. General Washington expressed 
a belief that General Hamilton was mistaken in Mr. Jefferson's character, (for 
whom he had a personal kindness.) Mr. Jefferson remained in retirement a few 
years, and then came forward as a candidate for the Presidency. Gener;il Hamilton 
in conversation with General Washington after this, asked him what lie now 
thought of Mr. Jeffex'son's sincerity, and of his pretended love of retirement ? 
General Washington replied, 'I see, Sir, you knew his character better than I 
did, and I noio believe, with you, that he is a most profound hypocrite. ' " 

Jefferson addressed a letter to Washington, May 23, 1792, ( see appendix 
to 10th Vol., of Writings of Washington, p. 504), in which he made a great 
number of objections to the financial system of Hamilton, misrepresenting it, 
of course, as he afterwards did, in his " Ana, " and letters. 

On the 29th July, following, at Mount Vernon, Washington wrote a letter 
to Hamilton, in which he repeated the objections of Jefferson, and called upon 
Hamilton to reply to them. 

First. — " That the public debt is greater than we can possibly pay before other 
causes of adding new debt to it will occur, and that this has been artificially created 
by adding together the whole amount of the debtor and creditor sides of the ac- 
count, instead of taking only their balances, which could have been paid off in a 
short time." 

This is the precise language df Jefferson's letter to Washington, written, 
at Philadelphia, dated May 23, 1792. And so AVashington goes through that 



22 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

letter, using its very language, and extending it to twentj-one objections; the 
last being in these \Yords : 

" That the anti-federal champions are now strengthened in argument by the 
fulfillment of their predictions, which has been brought abont by the monarchical 
federalists themselves, who having been for the new government, merely as a step- 
ping-stone to monarchy, have themselves adopted the very constitution of which, 
when advocating its acceptance before the tribunal of the people, they declared it 
insusceptible; whilst the republican federalists who espoused the same govern- 
ment for its intrinsic merits are disarmed of their weapons ; that which they 
deemed as prophecy being now become true history. Who, therefore, can be sure 
that these things may not proselyte tlie small number which was wanting to place 
the majority on the other side. And this, they add, is the event at which they 
tremble. " 

Hamilton to Washington, on the 18th August, 1792, says: 

" I am happy to be able at length to send you answers to the objections communi- 
cated in your letter of the 29th July. They have unavoidably been drawn in haste 
— too much so to do perfect justice to the subject, and have been copied just as they 
flowed from my heart and pen, without revision or correction. 

" You will observe that here and there some severity appears. I have not forti- 
tude enough always to bear with calumnies which necessarily include me as principal 
agent in the measures censured, of the falsehood of which I have the most unquali- 
fied conscienciousness. I trust I shall always be able to bear, as I ought, imputa- 
tions of errors of judgment; but I acknowledge that I cannot be entirely patient 
under charges which impeach the integrity of my public motives and conduct. I 
feel that I merit them in no degree^ and expressions of indignation sometimes escape 
me in spite of every effort to suppress them. I rely on your goodness for the proper 
allowances. With, &c." 

The objections made by Jefferson in his letter to Washington thus presented 
to Hamilton and answered, are substantially the same as those presented in 
Jefferson's " Ana," and particularly that atrocious one of February 4th, 1818 
(Jefferson's Works Vol. 4 pp. 446 to 453). The. paper sent to Washington 
with the above letter, entitled, " Objections and Answers respecting the admini- 
stration of the Government," will be found in the works of Hamilton, 4th Vol. 
pages 248 to 279. 

This answer of Hamilton to the attacks of his enemies ought to be carefully 
read by all men who are anxious to understand the course of measures adopted 
in regard to the fiscal policy of the Government at its outset. That system not 
only established our credit — the character of the government, but, by it paid 
off two great debts — tliat of the Pievolution and that of the war of 1812, and 
it ultimately received the sanction of the very men who opposed and traduced 
it. Sec Gallatin's first report as Secretary of the Treasury. Jcirersons 
approval of that report, and his letter to Epes in 1813, and the following 
statement made by Mr, Gallatin to nic in March, 1829. 

The following is copied from a note of what occurred, made at the time : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 23 

"During the period I was Secretary of Stcate, March, 1829, the Hon. Albert Gal- 
latin called upon me at the Department in relation to a correspondence wliich had 
then recently passed between me as Secretary and the Hon. Charles Yaughan, 
British Minister, as to the Eastern boundary -line or rather the '•'■Neutral Territory,'''' 
After the letter written by the Secretary had been read, Mr. Gallatin declared that 
it was exactly what it should have been, and the conversation on tbe subject was 
closed. 

"Mr. Gallatin then said to me, 'with your permission, I will relate a circumstance 
that occurred when I was Secretary of the Treasury under Mr. Jefferson, which will 
interest you. You know I succeeded your father as Secretary of the Treasury.' 
'Pardon me, sir, Mr. Wolcott succeeded him.' 

" ' True, "Wolcott was appointed when your father resigned, to carry out his plans 
under Hamilton's directions. Mr. Jeft'erson after my appointment said to me: 
Gallatin your most important duty will be to examine the accounts and all the 
records of your Department in order to discover the blunders and frauds of Hamil- 
ton, and to ascertain what changes may be required in the system. This is a most 
important duty, and will require all your industry and acuteness. To do it 
thoroughly, you may employ whatever extra force you may require.' " 

Mr. Gallatin continued : 

"You understand what was the State of parties at that time, and I must now 
say I went to the work with a very good appetite. The task was performed 
thoroughly — occupying much time. All the accounts and correspondence were 
looked into, and thus I became master of the whole system and all its details. 
When I had finished, I went to Mr. Jefferson and said to him ; ' Mr. President, I have, 
as you directed me to do, made a most thorough examination of the books, accounts 
and correspondence of my Department from its commencement.' The President 
with some eagerness interrupted me, saying: 'Well! Gallatin, What have you 
found ? ' I answered : ' I have found the most perfect system ever formed — any 
change that should be made in it would injure it — Hamilton made no blunders — 
committed no frauds. He did nothing wrong.' I think Mr. Jefferson was dis- 
appointed. It affords me much pleasure to make this commimication to the son of 
that illustrious man." 

I rose, — took Mr. Gallatin's hand, and thanked him most heartilj'. 

This was my first acquaintance with Mr. Gallatin. I afterwards called 
upon him to obtain his opinion, in common with other gentlemen in New York, 
supposed to have financial knowledge, in relation to the proposed removal of the 
deposits by President Jackson. (This was done at the request of Mr. McLane, 
Seci-etary of the Treasury). Mr. Gallatin was opposed to the removal, and 
expressed the most decided opinion in favor of a Bank of the United States as 
a fiscal agent of the Government. 

Mr. Gallatin in his first report as Secretary of the Treasury said : 

" The actual revenues of the Union are sufficient to defray all the expenses civil 
and military of the Government to the extent authorized by existing laws; to meet 
all the engagements of the United States, and to discharge in fifteen years-and-a- 
half the whole of our public debt." 



24 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Tliis report was madeia 1801, and Mr. Jefferson (3d Vol. p. 4.88) addressed 
a letter to Mr. Gallatin in relation to that report, saying: 

'■'■ Iliave read and considered your report on the operatiom of the sinTcing fund., 
and entirely ap2)7'ove it as the Vest ptlan on ichich we can set out.^'' 

I have italicised the above. 

WAsniNGTON's Farewell Address. 

In alluding to this address I do not intend to go at large into the discussion 
of the question of authorship, but to state some facts not heretofore disclosed, 
and to relate my efforts to obtain possession of my father's papers on the subject. 

In the year 1824, Nathaniel Pendleton, Esquire, one of my father's executors, 
stated to me on board the steamboat that the evidence of my father's having 
written the Farewell Address was most conclusive. That he had placed the 
draft in my father's handwriting, with the correspondence between him and 
General Washington, in the hands of Mr. King for safe-keeping where they 
would be found. , He added — you ought to get those papers and you may ask 
for tiicui in my name.* Some time afterwards, in conversation with Mr. King 
on tliis subject (who then thought that at some future day the fact of this having 
been the production of my father might be made known), I told him what Mr. 
Pendleton had stated to me, and he replied, " that my information was correct, 
and tliat the papers were in his possession." 

On Friday, May 20th, 1825, at the earnest solicitation of ray mother, I 
went to Mr. King's house at Jamaica to obtain those papers from Jiim, and 
when alone, I repeated to him what Mr. Pendleton had told me, and his admis- 
sion that be had the papers ; and requested him to place them for safe-keeping 
witli me, at the same time telling him that I did not ask for them to make them 
public, and that I was willing to receive them as he held them. He told me 
that he would not part with them, but that they should remain with him during 
his life, and at his death, should go to his executoi's, (his sons, John and 
Charles.) 

I then said, Will you give your executors any directions in regard to 
them ? He replied No ! they will go to my executors as (or with) my own 
papers." I remonstrated against this course, intimated that we had a right to 
them, and that it was most reasonable that he should give me the charge of 
them if he had confidence in me ; to which he replied that he did not withhold 
them from me from a want of confidence. I then asked him if he would 
permit me to see them, to which he said they should remain for the present as 
they were. I told him mj mother was extremely solicitous about the papers; 
that I did not wish to withdraw them from a want of confidence in him ; and I 
assented to his declaration that it was fortunate they had been separated from 
the other papers at the time that it was done by Mr. Pendleton, but requested 



* I did not sec liiin agaiu. He died, I believe, shortly after the conversation. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. , 25 

him not to decide without further reflection upon the application I had made. 
He said he would reflect upon the subject, but that he did not think he should 
change a determination deliberately formed, adding, " they must remain where 
they are at least for the present." I remained at his house during the night — 
and returned home the nest morning without seeing him again. On the 23d 
of the same month, I sent the following letter to him : 

" New Yoek, May 23, 1825. 

"Deae Sir: Enclosed is the paper you requested me to return to you. I have 
searched in vain throughout my papers for those received from Mr. Cabot. I recol- 
lect having given them to my brother John, who is seeking for them. 

"Since my last interview with you, \U particular object has engrossed much of 
my attention, and I am confirmed in the opinion tliat it is not only reasonable but 
quite proper, that the drr.ft of the farewell address, with the correspondence on that 
subject between my father and General Washington, deposited with you by my 
father's executors, should be returned to the surviving executor before your departure 
for Europe, or, left with me ; and I indulge the expectation tliat upon the further 
reflection you promised to give to this subject, you will agree with me in this opinion. 
If you should not (which I shall never cease to regret), I must request, as a personal 
and very particular favor, that you will permit me to peruse those papers at your 
house. 

" I again assure you that the anxiety about the possession of these papers or my 
desire to see them, is not induced by a wish to make them public. The expediency 
of doing so involves a question of too deep and serious import for me to decide, and 
which it is not necessary to dispose of for some time to come. Should you choose 
to place them with me, I am willing to receive them on the same terms on which 
they were deposited with you. 

" As to your correspondence with my father, do me the favor to put it under 
cover directed to me, and give it to Charles, or James, that I may receive it. 

" "With very great regard, 
' " Your friend and servant." 

Having, on my return from Jamaica, communicated the result of my inter- 
view with Mr. King to my brother John, he called upon Colonel Fish, the surviv- 
ing executor of my father's will, who expressed his surprise at the course 
pursued by Mr. King, and said he would call upon him for the papers. 

On the 25th May, 1825, I addressed the following letter to Mr. King : 

"Deae Sie: My brother John found the papers sent by Mr. Cabot among his. 
As my mother is suffering under a painful anxiety as to your determination on the 
subject of my last letter, permit me to ask you for your answer to my request. 

" "With great regard, 

" Your friend and obedient servant." 

Mr. King, in reply, addressed the following letter to me : 

"Jamaica, Thursday Morning, 2Cth May, 1S25. 
"Deae Sie: Yesterday I received your second letter, having before received one 
on the same subject. =i= * * ^g ^]-^q fidelity of my attachment to the memory of 



26 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

your father lias suffered no abatement, nor my respect for other considerations 
changed, it gives me some concern that you should at the present time press me on 
a subject which has been in concert witli other impartial persons well considered by 
me, and which now I have no opportunity to revise or alter. 

" I ought to be the last to appear liable to just suspicion of a desire to impair the 
admiration of our countrymen for the merits or services of your father. Things will 
remain as they now are, at least for the present, and I cannot take measures to 
change. 

" With mucli esteem and regard, 

" I am, faithfully, your obedient servant." 

To which I replied, as follows : 

" New York, May 28, 1825. 

" Dear Sir : The determination announced by your letter of the 26th inst, and 
the manner of it, with your subsequent declarations in regard to me, have given me 
great, very great, pain. 

"I assure you my api»lic-:ition to you was not dictated by feelings at all incon- 
sistent with the friendly relations which have for a long time existed between i;s ; 
or from the slightest diminution of my confidence in your fidelity to your trust, or 
your regard to my father's fame. But, repeating this declaration, it is due to 
myself frankly to say that, when you told me those papers at your death would go 
to your executors without any particular directions in regard to them, ray anxiety 
to change the custody of them was (without meaning any disrespect towards the 
persons you named for that office), very much increased. 

"Permit me to remind you that you do not notice that part of my letter which 
refers to your correspondence with my father. 

"With great respect, 

"Your obedient servant." 

On the day following, my brother John and I called upon Mr. Fish, showed 
him my letter to Mr. King, and his reply. He expressed a decided opinion 
that Mr. King ought to deliver tlie papers to him, and his willingness to call 
upon him for them ; which he did that day in company with my brother John 
without success. Mr. King declaring, as I understand from my brother, that 
he would not part with the papers, but that they should go to his executors. 

On advising with discreet friends (Mr, Boyd, Mr. Schuyler, my uncle and 
Mr. Samuel Jones), it was decided that the most effectual measures should be 
taken to obtain the papers, so unaccountably withheld ; and to that end a suit 
in chancery was commenced for the recovery of the papers. 

Mr. King appeared by his solicitor — sailed for London as Minister PlenijDO- 
tentiary — remained there about eighteen months, and returned very much 
enfeebled in mind and body. 

On the 17th October, 1826, I received the following letter from Mr. John 
Duer, with a bundle of papers, endorsed in the handwriting of the Hon. Piufus 
King, as follows : " Papers received by Rufus King from Judge Pendleton in 
1810, to be returned." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 27 

"Dear Sir: A letter from Mr. Jay, to Judge Peters, of Philadelpliia, containing 
a full explanation of the circumstances attending the composition of General Wash- 
ington's farewell address has lately appeared in the public papers. 

" The statement it contains, the trutli of which, it is impossible to doubt, as (it is 
but justice to you to add), has been admitted to me by yourself, renders it proper to 
terminate at once the controversy in relation to certain papers and documents 
entrusted to Mr. King by a deceased executor of your father's estate, and -which your 
mother as residuary legatee has demanded in the suit in chancery now pending. Mr. 
King, in his own opinion, and in that of his counsel, is now exonerated from the trust 
under which those papei's were originally placed in his hands. The reasons which 
led to the creation of this trust, and that have hitherto induced Mr. King to witiihold 
the papers, have ceased to exist. 

" I am therefore instructed to inform you that the papers are now in my possession 
ready to be delivered to yourself on the authority of your mother, or, to the surviv- 
ing executor, as she may determine. 

" I am most respectfully, 

" Yours." 

To this letter I replied as follows : 

"New York, October 17, 1826. 

"Dear Sir: The suit in Cbancery instituted by my mother, to recover the 
papers I this day received from you by Mr. King's directions, is ordered to be dis- 
continued. 

"Tn reply to the only part of your letter of this date, which concerns any other 
person than Mr. King, I have to say it is ' impossible to doubt ' that Mr. Jay has 
made a full and accurate statement of all the facts connected with the subject within 
his knowledge ; but wliether the conclusion intended by that letter to be estab- 
lished is correct or not will be a subject for more enlightened consideration when 
these papers are examined. 

" Respectfully, I remain your obedient servant." 

The seals on the envelope of the bundle of papers received from Mr. Duer 
were broken by me in the presence of my partner, Mr. John A. Duulap, who 
examined the endorsements of the different papers, and made a list of them 
(seventy-five iu number), which list is now before me, with his certificate, as 
follows : 

"I certify, that on this 17th day of October, 1826, I saw James A. Hamilton 
break the seals of the said envelope, and examined the endorsements of the different 
papers therein enclosed, and I numbered the said papers from one to seventy-five, 
and marked them with my initials thus, No. 1, J. A. D., and that the following is a 
list of all tlie papers contained in the said envelope. 

"John a. Dcxlap. 

"New York, October 17, 1826." 

Thus ended a proceeding of some importance, which gave me much pain ; 
because my personal relations with Mr. King were confidential and affectionate. 
Nevertheless, believing, as I did, that he was wrong iu withholding from their 
rightful owner papers which did not belong to him, I was satisfied that in doing 



28 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

SO he was governed by considerations connected with public interest, which 
were highly commendable. 

I recollect, with great interest and pleasure, my intercourse with this illus- 
trious man. He employed me in a business of a very delicate and important 
character, which was conducted so satisfactorily as to receive his earnest com- 
mendation. And as a mark of his confidence in me I state, that he advised 
with me as to a paper he considered due to himself to prepare, connected with 
his conduct in the business referred to ; which paper he committed to me to be 
communicated to a few discreet friends in the city of New York, in order that 
they might do him justice. He also, from time to time, conversed with me 
upon political matters, and read to me some of the memoranda he had made 
in relation to them. 

He informed me that John Q. Adams, the evening of the day he was 
elected President, called at his (Mr. King's) lodgings, and said to him : 

" I consider your influence as having been very po^verful in producing the result 
of the elecciou of to-daj^ and that it is your duty to give me your assistance in my 
administration, and to that end I have come here to request you to accept the place 
of Minister to Europe." 

To which Mr. King replied that he was disposed to do all in his power to 
aid him, but that he could not decide at once to assume the duties of that 
ofl&ce, tliat he would think of it, and give him an answer. The answer was 
that he would accept the mission if he could choose his Secretary. To this the 
President assented, and his son, Mr. John A. King (after Grovernor of this 
State), was appointed. The latter gentleman remained in England after his 
father returned in feeble health, and performed the duties of charge (Vaffaires 
for some time. 

Such of these papers as referred to the Farewell Address were held by me 
with my mother's permission, and ultimately delivered to General Cass, as Sec- 
retary of State, as a part of the " Hamilton Papers " sold by my mother to the 
United States. 

On the Sth of June, 1827, Jared Sparks, the author of "Washington's Life, 
and the editor of his papers, sent a message to me to visit him at the Park 
Place House. I did so. He expressed a wish to see the papers I had relating 
to the Farewell Address. He said among the Washington papers he found a 
short address in Washington's handwriting, which appeared to have been writ- 
ten before, with considerable additions made, probably about the time a note 
Avas written by Hamilton, in which the latter states that Washington had inti- 
mated a wish that Hamilton should examine and retouch a paper Washington 
intended to publish ; stating that he was then at leisure and would do so. In 
a letter to Hamilton Washington had expressed a wish to incorporate in his 
draft a part of an address written prior to his second term, and he refers to 
Madison as knowing that he intended at that time to make such an address. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 29 

Hamilton returned the draft in Washington's handwriting ivith a draft in his 
oivnhand, in ivliich he points out the places in ivhich different parts of Washinritonh 
draft shoidd he introduced.'''' This was accompanied bj a letter, in which Hamil- 
ton says " he does not like the amalgamation," and suggests that he would 
rather make a new paper. Sparks added, that ho found among Washington's 
papers a draft of the address as published, in Hamilton's handwriting, that it 
was a very different thing from the draft made by Washington and first sent to 
Hamilton, and that he was determined to publish the whole truth in regard to 
this paper. 

I proposed to him, stating at the same time that I had not authority from 
my mother to do so, that we should bring all our papers together, and I re- 
quested him to obtain authority from Judge Washington to meet me with the 
papers in his keeping, and that I would obtain power from my mother to brino- 
those that belonged to her. He said that he would show me all the papers 
except those referring to the address, and leave it to me to take copies, without 
requiring authority to do so from Judge Washington ; and that, as to the ex- 
cepted papers, he would next winter obtain authority from Judge Washington 
to enter into the arrangement. This statement is copied from a memorandum 
of our conversation, made by me immediately after we parted, which is en- 
dorsed "June 8, 1827; memorandum of a conversation between Mr. Sparks 
and J. A. Hamilton, on the subject of General Washington and General 
Hamilton." Mr. Sparks having obtained the permission from Judge Washino-- 
ton and I my mother's consent to show one another the respective papers we 
had, I went to Boston with the papers I had received from Mr. King. We 
met at Mr. Sparks' house, and read over the whole according to the date. I 
left mine with him, that he might make a list of them all, which he did and 
returned my papers to me. 

That list is as follows — the letter " S — 1," and " H — 3," on the margin, in- 
dicating the papers in the possession of the respective parties. 

MEMORANDCJI OF PAPERS RELATING TO FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

S — 1. Copy of a letter from "Washington to Madison, May 20, 1792. 
S — 2. Hamilton to Washington, May 10, 1796. 
H— 3. "Washington to Hamilton, May 15, 179G. 
S — 4. A draft in Washington's handwriting. 

H — 5. Abstract of points, to form an address, in Hamilton's handwriting- 
H— G. Endorsed " Original Draft," considerably amended, in Hamilton's hand- 
writing. 
H — 7. Washington to Hamilton, dated May 15, 1796. 
H — 8. Washington to Hamilton, June 26, 1796. 
S — 9. Hamilton to Washington, Jnly 5, 1796. 
S — 10. Hamilton to Washington, July 30, 1796. 
H~ll. Washington to Hamilton, August 10, 1796. 
S— 12. Hamilton to Washington, Augnst 10, 1796. 



30 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

S — 13. Second draft enclosed in above letter. 
II — 14. 'Washington to Hamilton, August 25, 1796. 
H — 15. Washington to Hamilton, Sept. 1, 1796. 
S — 16. Hamilton to AVasliington, S'ept. 4, 1796. 
S — 17. Hamilton to Washington, Sept. 5, 1796. 
H— 18. Washington to Hamilton, Sept. 6, 1796. 
S — ID. Hamilton to Washington, Sept. 8, 1796. 

Two copies were made of the above list. 

After the above list had been made, Mr. Sparks wrote to me the following 

letter : 

" Washington, March 23, 1830. 

" Mt Dear Sik : — I intended to see you when I passed through New York, hut was 
in too much haste. I shall return in a few days, when I shall wish to 
take home with me the file of letters which I lent to you from General 
"Washington's papers. Have you any ohjections to giving me a copy of those 
papers in your possession relating to the Farewell Address? It is my inten- 
tion when I come to that part of the subject to present a brief, but accurate state- 
ment of the whole affair. This I cannot do without having all the papers relating 
to it before me. I do not at present discover any reason why they may not be 
copied for my use. Please to think of it, and let me know when I see you. — Mean- 
time, I am, with nmch esteem, your most obedient servant." 

Before I replied to this note, I consulted the Hon, G-eorge Cabot, of Boston, 
as discreet, intelligent, and upright a gentleman as any other in the countiy, 
on the subject. His reply was : ; 

" When that address was published, it was understood among your father's friends 
that it was written by him. It was, however, considered important that it should 
have the influence of Washington's name and character, and I must advise that until 
it has ceased to do its work, the question of the authorship should not be discussed." 

Under this advice I declined to give the copies, and continued to observe 
the same reserve in regard to these papers that I had, from the day I received 
them, until Mr. Sparks, by the publication (12th Vol. pp. 382 to 394) of the ap- 
pendix to Washington's "Works, had proved : first, that Washington had called 
upon Madison in 1782, to prepare an addi-ess for him ; and afterward upon Ham- 
ilton, to do the same, when I felt at liberty to give publicity to the papers I 
held, and to that end I addressed the following letter to Mr. Sparks : 

"New York, February 29, 1844. 

"Dear Sir : — You once intimated a disposition to publish all the papers connected 
with the Farewell Address. It appears to me that such a publication might be made 
at this time without impropriety ; particularly with the understanding, between us, 
that no note or comment should be made without the approval of both parties. 
What say you ? " 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 31 

To this letter I received the following reply : 

" Cambpjdge, March 6, 1844. 
" Dear Sir : — I remember our conversation respecting the publication of the papers 
relating to the Farewell Address. I have seen no reason to change my opinion that 
it is desirable to have all published together,- as a matter of historical record, and 
perhaps without any comment excepting such remarks as might serve for exjjlana- 
tion ; and these to be mutually approved by the parties concerned. 
, " But the papers are no longer in my possession. 

" As a mere literary performance, though excellent, it is neither extraordinary, 
nor in any degree superior to many others written by each of the parties. It would 
add little to the general reputation of Washington or Hamilton, if one or the other 
should be found to be its sole author. It derives its value and is destined to immor- 
tality chiefly from the circumstance of its containing wise, pure, and noble sentiments 
sanctioned by the name of "Washington." * * * * i ;p^^],g ^way this 
name and this circumstance, and its powerful charm would be broken. It would be 
called able, and good and honorable testimony of the ability and patriotism of the 
writer." 

We have thus Mr. Sparks' estimate of this admirable paper; which by the 
enlightened mind of America is estimated much more highly. In Great 
Britain it was estimated at its intrinsic value when i\.lison in his History [Vol. 
3, p. 99, years 1796-7], wrote thus : 

"He, (Washington,) bequeathed to his countrymen an address on leaving the 
Government, to which there is no composition of uninspired wisdom can bear a 
comparison," 

And when the Annual Register [1796, page 203] said : 

" There is nothing in profane History to which his (Washington's) parting address 
can be compared. In our sacred Scriptures alone we find a parallel in that recapitu- 
lation of divine instruction and command, which the legislator of the Jews wade 
in the hearing of Israel, when they were about to pass the Jordan." 

On the 8th of June, 1827, Mr. Sparks said, as above stated, that among the 
Washington papers, he found a short address in Washington's handwriting. 
* * * ^ Hamilton returned this draft with a draft in his oivii 
handwriting, in w^hich he points out the place in which different parts of Wash- 
ington's draft should be introduced. He added that he also found among 
Washington's papers, a draft of the address as published, in Hamilton's hand- 
writing — that it was a very different thing from the draft made by Washington 
first sent to Hamilton. This was no doubt the paper which Hamilton described 
as the " copy of the original draft considerably amended,^'' which copy he sent to 
Washington in a letter, dated July 30th, 1796, in which letter he says : 

" I have the pleasure to send you a certain draft which I have made as perfect as 
my time and engagement would permit. It has been my object to render this act im- 
portantly and lastingly useful, and avoiding all cause of present exception to embrace 
such reflection and sentiments as will wear well, progress in approbation with time, 
and redound to future reputation. How far I have succeeded you will judge. If 



32 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

you should intend to take the draft now sent, and after perusing, and noting anything 
you wisli changed, send it to me. I will with pleasure, shape it as you desire. This 
may also put it in my power to improve tlie expression, and perhaps, in some in- 
stances condemn." 

On the 10th of August, "Washington wrote thus to Hamilton : 

"The principal design of the letter, is to inform you that your favor of the 30th 
ult. with its enclosure, came safely to hand by the last post, and that the latter shall 
have the most attentive consideration I am able to give it. 

"A cursoi-y reading it has had, and the sentiments therein contained are exceed- 
ingly just and such as ought to be inculcated." 

On the 26th of August, 1796, Washington wrote to Hamilton thus : 

" I have given the jiaper herein enclosed, several serious and attentive readings, 
and prefer it greatly to the other drafts, (his own included), being more copious on 
material points, more dignified on the whole, and with less egotism ; of course less 
exposed to criticism and better calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers, and 
foreigners particularly, whose curiosity I have no doubt will lead them to inspect it 
attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the performance." 

Could he, or any other person have thus spoken of his own work or a work 
which was not essentially his own ? " Several serious and attentive readings." 
He thus proceeds to comment on his own draft : 

"The draft now sent comprehends the most if not all these matters, is 
better expressed, and I am persuaded goes as far as it ought with respect to any per- 
sonal mention of myself, 

" I should have seen no occasion myself for its undergoing a revision, but as your 
letter of the 30th ult., which accompanied it, intimates a wish to do this, and know- 
ing that it can be more correctly done after a writing has been out of sight for some 
time than while it is in the hands of its author, I send it in conformity thereto. 
***** "If change or alteration takes place in the draft let them be so clearly in- 
terlined, erased, or referred to in the margin, that no mistake may be made in copy- 
ing it for the press. 

"To what editor in fJiis c\tj do you think it had best be sent for publication ? 
"Will it be proper to accompany it with a note to him expressing ******* qj. 
if you think the first not eligible let me ask you to sketch such a note as vou may 
judge applicable to the occasion." 

This letter appeared to afford conclusive evidence that its author was not 
the author of " the first of uninspired writings." 

On the 1st September, Washington wrote to Hamilton : 

"About the middle of last week I wrote to you, and that it might escape the eye 
of the inquisitive, (for some of my letters have lately been pried into), I took the liber- 
ty of putting it under cover to Mr. Jay. 

" Since then revolving over the paper that was enclosed therein on the various 
matters it contained, and on the just expression of the advice or recommendation 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON-. 33 

•which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in my estimation 
is of interesting concern to the well being of the country) was not touched upon 
also. I mean education generally as one of the surest means of enlightening and 
giving just ways of thinking to our citizens ; but particularly the establishment of a 
University." 

Hamilton in reply on 4th September, suggested that 

"The idea of the University is one of those which I think will be most properly 
reserved for your speech at the opening of the session." 

Washington on the 6th September wrote : 

"If you think the idea of a University had better be reserved for a speech at the 
opening of the session, I am content to defer the communication of it until that 
T^Qr\i)(\.^ hwi Qv&x\.\n that case I could prayyou as soon as convenient to make a draft 
for the occasion." 

For a most conclusive examination of the question of the authorship of these 
papers, see "An inquiry into the formation of Washington's Farewell Address," 
by the Hon. Horace Binney. 

Mr. Sparks says that the papers relating to the Farewell Address had been 
thrown into an old trunk and were not discovered after Washington's de- 
cease until he found them. This is a mistake. The letter of Hamilton to 
Washington, dated July 5, on this subject is quoted by Judge Marshall. 

Hon. Timothy Pickering, in a letter to James A. Hamilton, dated Salem, 
January 16, 1829, referring to the Farewell Address, says : 

" The impression that he (Washington) was the author was first made by his lay- 
ing the address a short time prior to its publication before the heads of the Depart- 
ment. These were Wolcott, McHenry, myself and Charles Lee, the Attorney Gen- 
eral. The draft was in his ovvn handwriting. He desired us to examine it and to 
note on paper any alterations and amendments we should think advisable. We did 
so, but our notes were few [perhaps only two or three] grammatical inaccuracies 
which would not have escaped the notice of your father and Mr. Jay. ***** 
Whether the amendments suggested by the Cabinet were adopted or not, I have not 
the slightest remembrance. That a copy was found in your father's- handwriting 
after his death was a demonstration to me of the material agency he had in the 
framing of the Farewell Address. William Lewis, that eminent lawyer of Phila- 
delphia, and your father's friend, first told of it. * * * " I think I can vouch for the 
fact. I believe it was the first time I conversed with Mr. King after your father's 
death, that he spoke of some of his papers which indicated his important agency in 
the Farewell Address, which the family seemed inclined or might incline to divulge, 
but which appeared to him and Pendleton to be inexpedient, and therefore these 
papers were removed and deposited with Mr. King." 

William Colman to James A. Hamilton. 

" New York, October 21, 1824. 
" Col. Troup told me that on entering your father's oflBce one morning he found 
him earnestly engaged in preparing a composition which he told him was the Fare 
3 



34 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

well Address ; that it was nearly finished ; that he actually read the MS$. or heard 
it read, and that it was the original of what afterward appeared in print under the 
name of " Washington's Farewell Address." 

General W. North, of the Army of the Kevolution, to James A. Hamilton. 

"Xew London, June 3, 1824. 

" Sir : The statement made hy your anonymous correspondent is true. I presume 
the writer of the note resides in the vicinity of Hyde Park. As well as I can recol- 
lect I had no conversation with any other person on hoard of the steamboat. Agree- 
ably to your request I repeat what I probably there said : 'In a conversation with 
General Hamilton, — it is twenty-five years since, — that gentleman told me that he 
wrote the Farewell Address of General Washington.' I remember nothing more of 
what was communicated on that occasion; what is now stated I could not well 
forget. 

"As it may add to the consolation of your respected mother, I think it well to 
say, that it has been and is my full belief, formed as I think on strong reasons, that it 
your father's life had been spared, no great portion of time would have elapsed be- 
fore the Christian religion would have found in him a public professor and a most able 
advocate and defender. 

" I am Sir, your obd't servant." 

John Jay, in bis letter to Judge Peters, referring to the authorship of the 
Farewell Address, says : " Washington would have dishonored himself by get- 
ting Hamilton to write that address. " This might in Judge Jay's opinion 
have been a reason why Washington should not have applied to Madison to 
write a Farewell Address for him, which he certainly did ; but it is a little 
singular that this circumspect gentleman, as he most certainly was, should have 
forgotten that Washington in a letter to Hamilton, dated 8th May, 1796, asks 
Jay to draft a letter, to be addressed by him " as a private person, " to the 
Emperor of Austria, for the liberation of Marquis de la Fayette. Mr. Jay pre- 
pared such a letter, which was signed by George Washington, and sent to the 
Emperor. Was he dishonored in doing this ? 

When the Government was organized under the Constitution two Vir- 
ginians, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Edward Randolph, were members of Wash- 
ington's Cabinet, and Mr. Madison, of Virginia, was the leader in the House 
of Representatives. The latter enjoyed at that time so much of Washing- 
ton's confidence, that when his first term was about to end he asked Madisou 
to prepare for him a farewell address, which was done. 

All these men lost Washington's confidence. When Jefferson resia-ned the 
State Department, Randolph, Attorney-General, was appointed Secretary of 
State. He was dismissed by Washington, under a charge of having asked 
the French ]\Iinister to give him money. (A letter of that import was taken 
by an English cruiser from the vessel which carried that Minister's despatches.) 
See Washington's letter, Randolph's defence, and Jefi"erson's remarks 
upon Randolph's character and conduct. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 35 

In 1802, Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, made a report to Congress, 
March 1, in which he says : " The accounts of Eandolph have been adjusted, 
and a suit instituted, ever since 1797, for a balance of $51,000, which, not- 
•withstandiug the strenuous efforts of the Comptroller to bring it to an issue, 
has not yet been decided. " 'Ihis fact gives strength to the opinion that Ran- 
dolph's indebtedness to the United States, induced the attempt to obtain 
money from the French Minister. He was a defaulter. 

Jefferson, as appears by the already quoted declaration of Washington, was 
believed by the latter, to " have been a most profound hypocrite. " 

Washington, in a letter to Hamilton, on the subject of his Farewell Ad- 
dress (Works of Hamilton, Vol. 6, p. 1'20, May 16, 179G), says : 

" It will be perceived from hence, that I am attached to the quotation. " (That 
was from the address prepared years before by Madison.) "My reasons for it are, 
that it is not only a fact, that such an address was written, and on the point of 
being published, but Tcnoion also to one or two of those characters who are now 
strongest and foremost in the opposition to the Government, and, consequently, to 
the person administering of it contrary to their views. " 

This, evidently, refers to Madison, as one — he wrote that address. 

Mr. Monroe, another prominent Virginian, although a man of slender 
abilities, so far lost the confidence of Washington, that he was recalled in 
disgrace. See his defence. 

Having evidence, derived from the highest source, of the groundless nature 
of the charges made against Hamilton, by Mr. Jefferson, in his letters and 
'' Ana," and particularly in one of the latter, dated February 4, 1818, I per- 
form a filial duty of the highest obligation, in making the following statement :. 

Jefferson, says, in Vol. 4, page 446 : 

" I retarned from that mission (to France) in December, 1789, and proceeded to 
New Yorli, in March, 1790, to enter on the office of Secretary of State, &c., &c. 
Hamilton's Financial System had then passed. * " 

Jefferson says this system had two objects : 

" First, As a puzzle to exclude popular understanding and inquiry. Second, 
As a machine for the corruption of the Legislature. ***** And with 
grief and shame it must be acknowledged that this machine was not without efiect ; 
that even in this, the birth of our Government, some members were found sordid 
enough to bend their duty to their interest, and to look after personal, rather than 
public good. " He then refers to the funding system, as the means by which "im- 

* Mr. Jefferson's statement that "Hamilton's Financial System was then passed," (that is, 
before 1790), is not true. The Assumption Act, at which Ut. Jefferson assisted (see 
Jefferson's writings, Vol. 4, pp. 448, 449), was passed on the 4th August, 1790. The act 
makmg provision for the debt of the United States, (commonly called the "Funding Act, " 
was passed on the 12th August, 1790. The Act for "the Encouragement and Protection of 
Manufactures, " was passed August 10, 1790, and the Act establishing the Bank of the 
United States, was passed 25th February, 1791. These were the measures proposed, as neces- 
sary to carry out " Hamilton's Financial System. " 



36 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

mense sums were filched from the poor and ignorant, and fortunes accumulated by 
those who had been poor enough before. " He adds, " men tlius enriched by the 
dexterity of a leader, would follow, of course, the chief who was leading them to 
fortune, and became the zealous instruments of his enterprises. " 

Hamilton's Financial System consisted of four principal subjects : First, 
The Funding System. Second, The Assumption of the debt incurred by the 
States, in aid of the Revolution. Third, The Bank of the United States, and 
Fourth, The protection of American Manufactures. 

Hamilton in his first report, dated January 9th, 1790, in obedience to a 
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 20th September, 1789, which 
declared "that an adequate provision for the support of the public credit is a 
matter of high importance to the honor and prosperity of the United States, 
:says : 

"If the maintenance of public credit then be so truly important * * * * by 
'what means is it to be effected ? The ready answer is, by good faith, by a punctual 
'performance of contracts ; while the observance of that good faith which is the basis 

■ of public credit is recommended by the strongest inducements of political expedi- 

■ ency. It is enforced by considerations of still greater authority. There are argu- 
:ments for it which rest on the immutable principles of moral obligation. And in 

proportion as the mind is disposed to contemplate in the order of Providence an 
intimate connection between public virtue and public happiness will be its repug- 
nance to a violation of these principles. This reflection derives additional strength 
•from the nature of the debt of the United States. It was the price of Liberty. The 
■faith of America lias been repeatedly pledged for it, and with solemnities that give 
peculiar force to the obligation. A general =5= * * » belief prevails that the credit 
'Of the United States will quickly be established on the firm foundation of an effectual 
provision for the existing debt. The influence this has had at home is witnessed by 
the rapid increase that has taten place in the market value of the public securities ; 
and the intelligence from abroad announces effects proportionably favorable to our 
public credit and consequence. * * * * Among ourselves the most enlightened 
friends of good government are those whose expectations are highest. To justify 
and preserve their confidence, to promote the respectability of the American name, 
to answer the calls of justice, to restore landlord property to its true value, to furnish 
new resources both to agriculture and commerce, to cement more closely the Union 
'Of the States, to add to their security against foreign attack, to establish public order 
• on the basis of an upright and liberal policy ; these are the great and invaluable ends 
to be secured by a proper and adequate provision at the jjresent period for the sup- 
port of public credit." 

He then proceeds to show that " to this provision we are invited not only 
"by these general considerations but by others of a more particular nature." 
He then details these particular advantages to the public creditor by the 
increased value of his property. It is a well-known fact that in countries in 
•which the national debt is properly funded and an object of established confi- 
dence, it answers most of the purposes of money. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 37 

First, "trade is extended by it because there is a larger capital to carry it 
on. Second, agriculture and manufactures are also promoted by it, for tbe 
like reason that more capital can be commanded to be employed in both. 
Third, the interest of money will be lessened by it, for this is always in a ratio 
to the quantity of money and to the quickness of circulation. * * * But these 
good effects of a public debt can only be looked for when by being well founded 
it has acquired an adequate and stable value, until then it has rather a contrary 
tendency." 

After some profound remarks upon the subject, he says : •' The next inquiry 
which presents itself is what ought to be the nature of such a provision ? " 
After a full and fair discussion as to whether discrimination ou2;ht to be made 
between original holders of the public securities and present possessors by 
purchase, he expresses the opinion which was founded as well upon the soundest 
views of justice as upon the provision in the Constitution of the United States 
" that all debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of 
that Constitution shall be as valid against the United States under it as under 
the confederation. No discrimination should be made." He then discusses the 
justice and expediency of assuming the payment of the debts of the States, incurred 
in the prosecution of the War of the Revolution by the United States. He adds : 

" The result of this discussion is this, that there ought to be no discrimination 
between the original holders of the debt and the present possessors by purchase ; that 
it is expedient there should be an assumption of the States' debts by the Union, and 
that the arrears of interest should be provided for on an equal footing with the 
priQcipal." 

The report then proceeds to give in detail the particulars of the principal 
and interest of the foreign and domestic liquidated debt as well as of the 
unliquidated, which last is estimated at §2,000,000; showing that the whole 
amount of the debt of the Revolution exclusive of the debts due by the States 
was $54,124,464Yx,''ij-. This report then gives by schedule the amount of the 
State debts, ascertained by returns pursuant to the order of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. The total was assumed to be $25,000,000, principal and interest. 
He says : 

"Persuaded, as the Secretary is, that the proper funding of the present debt will 
render it a National blessing, yet he is so far from acceding to the position, in the 
latitude in which it is sometimes laid down, that public debts are public blessings, a 
position inviting to prodigality and liable to dangerous abuse, — that he ardently wishes 
to see it incorporated as a fundamental maxim in the system of public credit of the 
United States that the creation of debt should be always accompanied with the 
means of extinguishment. This he regards as the true secret for rendering public 
credit immortal ; and he presumes that it is difficult to conceive a situation in which 
there may not be an adherence to this maxim." 

This funding system so much abused and misrepresented by Mr. Jefferson 
during the time he was a member of General Washington's Cabinet and by his 



38 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

party afterwards, was sustained by several Acts of Congress passed during the 
first forty years of our government under all the various administrations ; but 
it was expressly approved by Mr. Gallatin in Lis first report as Secretary of the 
Treasury under Mr. Jefi'orson, and approved by Mr. Jefferson himself in a letter 
addressed to Mr. Gallatin. And wc here assert without the fear of contradiction 
that it was the only funding system ever established in this or any other country 
which has been completely successful ; and that its success was due to the fact 
that by Hamilton's System (adopted by Congress) the destination of the rev- 
enues to be applied to the purchase or payment of the debt was unalterably 
fixed, not only by appropriating such revenues permanently, but by conveying 
the funds to Commissioners of the Funding System, and vesting them as property 
in trust for the faithful performance of their duty ; and by making such applica- 
tion of the revenues a part of the contract with the creditors. And here I must 
add that the Act of 25th February, 1862, by which the gold fund pledged and 
set apart for the purchase or payment of the public debt has from that date to 
this been a dead letter, and that Mr. McCulloch, ' the present (18G6) Secretary 
of the Treasury,' has with marvellous disregard of what was due to himself or 
to the character of the country, in his report dated December 4th, 1865, page 
212, suggested to Congress to repeal so much of the Act of February, 1862, as 
pledged one per cent, of the entire debt of the United States in gold derived 
from impost duties to the payment or purchase of the public debt. 

General Alexander Hamilton to William Heth. 

"New York, December 18th, 1798. 

"Dear Sir: Your letter of the 30th July was duly received. It gave me much 
pleasure as a proof of your friendly remembrance, and as an indication that you were 
not disposed to be idle in a crisis of national danger. You are indeed one of those 
men who cannot be permitted to be idle, and you will no doubt be called to take the 
field in some eligible station, if the impending storm shall not subside. 

" You can image the multiplicity and extent of my avocations, and I hope you will 
make a kind allowance for my silence. Attribute it to anything but want of regard 
for you ; on this score depend that I have no retribution to make, being very cordially 
and truly yours, &c. 

" P. S. What do the factions in your State really aim at ? " 

This faction was led by Messrs. Jeff'erson and Madison, of Virginia, and 
Nicholson, of Kentucky. Their course was referred to by Hamilton thus : " The 
late attempt of Virginia and Kentucky to unite the State Legislatures in a direct 
resistance to certain laws of the Union can be considered in no other lijiht than 
as an attempt to change the government." 

The Kesolutions of 1798, passed by Virginia and Kentucky, were sent to 
the legislatures of each State and rejected by all. It conclusively appears by 
a letter addressed by Mr. Jefferson to Wilson C. Nicholson, dated September 
5th, 1799 (Works of Jeff'erson, 3d Vol. p. 428), that he contemplated secession 
as a remedy to be applied by a State in certain cases. 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 39 

Calhoun appealed to these resolutions as giving a sanction to nullification in 
1832, and Mr. Madison, at that time in various letters written by him, insisted 
that these resolutions and the party which sustained them, meant nothing more 
than a coercion of opinion and moral influence, whereas the truth is as declared 
by Hamilton, " that the opposition party in Virginia, the headquarters of the 
faction, have followed up their hostile declarations, which are to be found in the 
resolutions of the General Assembly, by an actual preparation of the means of 
supporting them by force ; that they have taken measures to put their militia 
on a more efficient footing, are preparing considerable magazines, and (which is 
an unequivocal proof of how much they are in earnest), have gone so far as to lay 
new taxes on their citizens." See 6th Vol. Hamilton's Works, p. 348. The 
National Intelligencer published the following : 

"Resolution of 1798-9 — State Armory. 

"The fact may have escaped the recollection of many persons now living that 
during the political struggles of 1798-9, the State of Virginia erected an armory at 
Richmond for the manufacture of arms. The operations were carried on for many 
years, and the building is now occupied as a mere arsenal, with a State guard of 
about eighty men attached. In a debate in the House of Representatives in 1817, 
when tlie late Governor Pleasants was a member, Mr. John Randolph distinctly made 
known the objects of the erection of this armory. He said : 

" 'There was no longer any cause for concealing the fact that the Grand Armory at 
Richmond was built to enable the State of Virginia to resist, hy force, the encroach- 
ments of the then Administration upon her indisputable rights — upon the plainest 
and clearest provisions of the Constitution — in case they should persevere in their 
outrageous proceedings.' " 

"Mr. Randolph said in another part of his speech : 

" ' We did not then rely upon the Richmond Armory, not yet in operation, but on 
the United States Armory at Harper's Ferry. At that day when the Constitution 
itself was put at hazard, rather than relinquish the long enjoyed sweets of power ; 
when the sun rose upon this houseballotiug — balloting through the night and through 
successive days for a chief magistrate (he well remembered the scene) — had we not the 
promise of Dark's brigade, and of the arms at Harper's Ferry, which he engaged to 
secure in case of an attempt to set up a pageant under color of law to supersede the 
public will, after defeating the election by the pertinacious abuse under the pretence 
of the exercise of constitutional right to support one of the persons returned by arti- 
fice whom they professed to abhor. General Hamilton had frowned indignantly 
upon this unwoi-thy procedure, for which he had paid the forfeit of his life.' " 



CHAPTER II. 

GRADUATION AND ENTRANCE ON POLITICAL LIFE. 

Graduation at Columbia College — Admission to the Bar — Speech at a Federal Meet- 
ing — A threatened duel — Marriage — Struggle with poverty — The bar of Colum- 
bia county — Bitter hostility of political parties — Unpublished party history — 
A political dinner party — Removal to lHew York — A Master in Chancery — The 
Morris Estate — Louis Philippe in exile — A loan from Gouverneur Morris — DifB- 
culty regarding its repayment. 

In 1804 a student in Columbia College being required to deliver a speech 
at one of the exhibitions, I asked my father to prepare one for me. With his 
usual kindness he complied, and a few days before the fatal duel handed me a 
manuscript with a note in which was written : " My Dear James — I have pre- 
pared for you a Thesis on Discretion. Yoic may need it. God bless you. Your 
affectionate father.^ — A. H." 

The first impression as to the words underscored was, that I might need the 
Thesis as an exercise. Immediate subsequent events of the most painful char- 
acter induced the belief that it was intended as an admonition that I wanted 
that " homchj virtue^'' discretion, of which the thesis treated. How far I have 
profited by the admonition this relation of the errors of my life may prove. 
The reader may perhaps say that in attempting to write these reminiscences I 
liave shown that the admonition was thrown away. 

On graduating I entered the office of Judge Pendleton, where I studied 
law, and was admitted to the bar during the May term of the Supreme Court in 
1809. 

In the month of June, in that year, I went to AYaterford, in the county of 
Saratoga, to ])racticc law and to take care of some real estate belonging to my 
mother in that county. 

My professional business was very limited, and a year was spent in Water- 
ford without any other event worthy of note than the following act of folly, and 
perhaps wickedness, into which I was drawn by the folly of another — a much 
older man than myself. I was induced to make a speech at a Federal meeting 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 41 

at a place called The Borough, in Saratoga County, four or five miles north of 
Waterford. This meeting was followed by a Democratic meeting, when Mr. 
John Cramer, a prominent lawyer, made an address, in which he spoke most 
disparagingly of my speech and of my father. Captain Ten Broeck, who had 
been an officer in the army of '98, as soon as Mr. Cramer concluded, rose and 
denounced him for having made this attack, and called upon him to retract it. 
This was refused, and the gallant captain forthwith challenged him in my name; 
announcing at the same time that if I did not adopt the challenge he would — to 
which Mr. Cramer sneeringly replied — " he won't do it." 

The next morning the Captain called upon me at Waterford, related what 
had passed, and received, as my second, a written challenge, which Mr. Cramer 
did not accept. His refusal resulted, as was usual at that time, in his being 
posted in the newspapers as a coward. I had the gratification, some years after- 
wards, to render Mr./Cramer a personal service of great importance. Early in 
the spring of ISIO^^I removed to the City of Hudson, Columbia County, to 
practice law — thus realizing the proverb of the rolling stone. On the 17th of 
October, of the same year, I was married. Both I and my wife were without 
means — our parents not being in a situation to do much for us. This I have 
always considered the most fortunate event of my life. I realized the embarrass- 
ments of my situation, and met them with the determination to overcome them. 
Nor did my resolution fail of its reward. Our self-denials were great, indeed, 
but our faith in the future was greater. Experience teaches us sad but useful 
lessons. Our poverty was so extreme that during our first year we boarded at 
four dollars per week for each. I now look back upon this event as not only 
the happiest but the most fortunate occurrence of my long and eventful life. 
My poverty, with its burthens and responsibilities, nerved me to exertion, and 
necessity taught me the value of economy and self-denial. 

At the bar of Columbia County, Elisha AVilliams, Thomas P. Grosvenor and 
Jacob R. Van Rensselaer, were the leaders of the Federalists; Martin Van 
Buren, Joseph Monell and William Miller, were the leading Democratic law- 
yers. Elisha Williams was a man handsome in person, of courteous manners, 
and kind and liberal disposition. Beyond his professional knowledge, which was 
such as he gathered in the courts, and in his preparation for the arguments of 
his particular cases (of course superficial), he was wholly unlettered. Williams 
frequently addressed political meetings. His ready wit, vivid imagination, easy, 
pleasant manners, rendered him efi"ective, but when he indulged in references to 
the history of his own and other governments his blunders were quite amusing. 
Thomas P. Grosvenor was a man of talent and education. He spoke well, was 
kind-hearted and well disposed. Indolence kept him needy. 

Jacob R. .Van Rensselaer, a gentleman of moderate abilities and fortune, 
had by his family connections much political influence. Martin Van Buren, 
younger than Williams, and without the same professional advantages, was the 
leader of the Democratic party, and generally their advocate in contested causes. 



42 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

He was a native of the county ; of obscure parentage, he wanted the advantage 
of an early education. When very young he went into the office of an attorney 
to serve seven years, giving his time to the drudgery of a clerk, and was 
admitted to the bar. His professional knowledge was acquired by his practice, 
his attendance in courts, and his examination of the authorities bearinjr on his 
particular cases. His knowledge of books outside of his profession was more 
limited than that of any other public man I ever knew. This remark refers to 
him, at the time I saw most of him, when he was Secretary of State. 

"William W. Van Ness, a judge of the Supreme Court, was ambitious, skillful 
in management. He was the leading spirit of the political clique which guided 
the Federal party in the middle and western districts of New York. By com- 
bination with De Witt Clinton it controlled the whole State. At that time I 
was too young and of too little importance to be admitted into the councils of 
these men ; and yet through my familar association with Mr. Rudolph Bunner, 
who was admitted to them, I became acquainted with their political and other 
purposes. These men denounced the war of 1812, supported De Witt Clinton 
as the Peace party candidate for President ; sympathized with the Hartford 
Convention ; and endeavored to carry the State of New York into that disloyal 
movement. Van Ness gave as a toast at that period — " The Hartford Conven- 
tion." 

The political parties in this county were in such bitter hostility to each 
other, that there was no social intercourse between their leaders. Party spirit 
was carried so far that, as was well understood when Wm. W. Van Ness, the 
Federal judge, held the Circuit, the Republicans to avoid the effect of his par- 
tizanship, would not bring their causes before him if it were possible to avoid it ; 
and on the other hand, when Ambrose Spencer held the Circuit, the Federals 
feared to meet his influence. On one occasion Mr. Van Bureu's industry gave 
him so much the advantage over Williams on the argument at the bar, by su- 
perior preparation, that when Judge Van Ness met Williams he referred to the 
argument of that case, and reproachfully said to his friend : " How could you 
from want of a little industry, allow that little Democrat to get so much the ad- 
vantage of you ? " To which Williams promptly replied — " Oh, Judge, I re- 
lied upon you to supply my deficiencies." 

Another incident will prove the partizan character of a judge of our Su- 
preme Court. There was an ejectment cause between Mr. Penfield and the 
Hallenbecks, which involved the title to a valuable farm South of the city of 
Hudson. ^ The defendants were ignorant men and staunch Democrats. The 
cause had been once tried and the tenants were successful. Van Buren was 
their advocate and Williams opposed. It was again tried and Penfield obtained 
a verdict. A day or two after the court had adjourned, the Hallenbecks came 
to my office and said, " Mr. Hamilton, we lost our case the other day as you 
know, and now we want to employ you as our attorney." I said, " Together 
with Mr. Van Buren ? " They answered emphatically, *' No ! We will have 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 43 

nothing further to do with him — we believe he was bought." I sharply replied, 
" You do Mr. Van Buren great injustice ! He managed your case with great 
skill ; and no man could have done better than he did. You lost your cause by 
no fault of his. I certainly will not be employed by you." 

Feeling indignant that such men should assail the character of an upright 
man, I mentioned the conversation to my friend Mr. Bunuer, who repeated 
it to Judge Van Ness. The Judge promptly said to Mr. B.: " Tell Hamilton 
to send for the Hallenbecks, and take up their cause — he can carry it, and that 
little democrat will be destroyed." Bunner said, " Judge, you had better 
give that advice to Hamilton yourself, and you will get your answer — I cer- 
tainly cannot do so." 

The bill to recharter the first Bank of the United States, was defeated in Jan- 
uary, 1811, by the casting vote of George Clinton, Vice President, although it 
was sustained by Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, by Crawford then in the 
Senate and afterwards Secretary of the Treasury, and by all the influence of the ad- 
ministration, Mr. Madison being President. One of the many evil consequences 
of the winding up of that bank was to induce a vast increase in numbers of State 
banks, particularly in the city of New York ; and above all, the attempt by shame- 
less intrigue, to establish the Bank of America in the city of New York, with 
a capital of six millions. This measure was earnestly supported by the Federal 
faction in the middle district as a party engine. The corrupt means they em- 
ployed to obtain a charter, were so flagrant as to induce Governor Tompkins in 
March, 1812, to prorogue the Legislature for sixty days ; but without effect — 
the corrupt faction prosecuted their means with audacity and success. 

As a part of the unpublished history of the party movements of this time, 
the following statement, derived from the most authentic source, may be made 
public. The Federal party had been denounced as the peace party during a 
flagrant war with Great Britain ; this is correct, only as to the leading men of 
the party, in the middle district of the State, and particularly so as to the fac- 
tion to which I have referred ; but not true as to its most distinguished leaders 
in the State of New York. John Jay and Rufus King stand forth in this con- 
nection with the same history which characterized the earlier periods of their 
lives. In order to induce those gentlemen with Gouverneur Morris, to support 
De Witt Clinton, a negotiation was opened by Mr. Clinton, through his friend 
the distinguished clergyman John Mason. 

The latter communicated to Morris Clinton's wish, to have an interview 
with Morris, Jav, and King, to explain to them his (Clinton's) political prin- 
ciples, and the policy upon which he would administer the government, if 
elected. 

He hoped tliat by the force of his Democratic partizans and the fragments 
of the Federal party, to secure a majority of the electoral votes, and thus defeat 
Mr. Madison, who was candidate of the Republican party. Mr. Mason, knowing 
the predilections of Mr. G. Morris opened the subject to him, and through him 



44 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Mr. Jay and Mr. King were invited to meet Mr. Clinton on a certain day at 
the house of Mr. Morris. They accepted the invitation, but after the meeting 
was arranged an incident occurred so characteristic of Mr. Jay's Huguenot 
prejudice, that it will bear repetition. Mr. Mason suggested to Mr. Morris, that 
as there were to be three Federalists, it would be well that Mr. Clinton should 
be attended by one friend. This suggestion was communicated to the other 
gentlemen and it was proposed that Mr. Mason should be that friend, to which 
Mr. Jay promptly replied, " No Priest, no Priesty 

The day for the dinner arrived. Mr. Jay and Mr. King were there, and, 
with Morris, agreed as to the subjects of conference. It was decided that Mr, 
Morris should be the interlocutor, and that the questions on their part should 
be categorically answered. Mr. Clinton arrived at a late hour : His Honor 
the Mayor of New York having been detained by the trial of a cause in his 
court, a meal was ordered for, and eaten by him, and the conference was held. 
Mr. Clinton among other things declared that the policy of the Federal party, 
which was that adopted by Washington and Adams, was the only course of meas- 
ures which could promote the interest and preserve the honor of the country ; 
and added emphatically, " I well know the views and purpose of the Democratic, 
the Jacobin party, and have no confidence in them. As president I would 
administer the government upon the system of Washington and Hamilton." 
Mr. Jay who was always upright and direct (well knowing that Mr. Clinton 
must depend essentially upon the Democratic party for his success), unable to 
keep silence longer, said : " Mr. Clinton, do your Democratic friends know 
that these are your opinions and purposes ? " The result of this conference 
was, that Messrs. Jay and King determined not to support Mr. Clinton. 

He was not elected, but came very near it. This statement is the substance 
of a memorandum of the meeting made at the time by Kufus King, which he 
read to me in the year 1822 or 1823. 

Mr. King, as a Senator from New York vigorously supported the war, and 
indeed it was said that in order to sustain the finances of the Grovernment, he 
made large advances to the United States from his private means, and induced 
others to do the same. 

When his term expired, Mr. Monroe as President, strongly urged his Dem- 
ocratic friends in the New York leo;islature to re-elect him. 

The faction, however, with money of the Clintonians at the first trial defeated 
him ; he was, however, afterwards elected, and hastened to Washington to op- 
pose the admission of Missouri as a slave State, and took a very earnest 
and honorable part in that most memorable discussion. 

In the spring of 1814 I removed from Hudson to New York. At that 
time an attack on New York city, by the British, was considered imminent ; and 
Governor Tompkins was not only ordering the militia of the State to come to 
the defense, but such was the desperate condition of the exchequer of the 
nation that Tompkins, Hufus King, and many others, and particularly, old 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 45 

Federalists, advanced their private means to defray the expense of that arma- 
ment. 

On the 22d of July, 1814, I addressed to the Governor the following 
letter : 

" Sir : I have several times called upon you, at your office, to pay my respects 
to you, but have found you so much engaged, as to induce me to retire. Allow 
me, Sir, in contemplation of the recent call for militia, to say, that I hold myself 
in readiness to perform the duties of any military station you shall please to assign 
to me. I removed to New York to attend exclusively to my professional duties, 
hut these views must be abandoned should the war continue ; as it will be then my 
duty, as well as the duty of every good citizen, to take part in the burthen of a 
vigorous defence. 

" "With these sentiments, I remain, &c., 

" James A. Hamilton. " 

To this letter the Governor gave a very flattering answer, and requested 
me to call upon him in the evening, which I did; and the next day I was ap- 
pointed a deputy Quartermaster of Col. Varian's Infantry Kegiment, then on 
its way to Brooklyn. I served about a month in that situation, and was ap- 
pointed Brigade Major and Inspector of Gen. Height's Brigade. I continued 
in active service until the peace. The Governor then promised to appoint me 
a Lieut. Col. of one of the regiments to be raised by the State of New York, 
under a bill introduced in the Senate. 

At the close of the war I returned to my profession. In 1813, I had 
been appointed a Master in Chancery; an oihce, as I supposed, of so little 
value, that I did not take up the commission. After the war, Patx-ick Hil- 
dreth, who as a Master in Chancery, had most of the business in New 
York, having been removed, proposed to me to take up my commission, and 
that we should form a partnership. On the 4th of June, 1815, I ad-dressed 
the following letter to Governor Tompkins : 

"Sib : In March 1813, I was appointed a Master in Chancery, which office I did 
not accept, it being of little value in Hudson, and because of some circumstances 
connected with the conduct of my political friends ; you will oblige me by informing 
me if you have received or accepted my resignation of it ; and if you have not, if it 
would be incompatible with strict right, now to exercise its functions in this city, to 
which I have removed. 

"With sentiments, &c., 

" J. A. Hamilton." 

The Governor replied on the 14th of July : 

" Sir : The Governor alone cannot accept resignations of civil officers. The 
Council accepts resignations of that kind, and enters them on its minutes. Upon 
the receipt of your letter of the 4th inst., I caused a search to be made in the ab- 
stract or list of civil appointments, taken from the Council Minutes, and found that 
your name w^as on that list as a Master of Chancery, and of course there can be no 



46 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

impropriety in your qualifying, and exercising the functions of the oflSce. To make 
you perfectly secure I transmit an official certificate of your continuance in ofiice. 

" With high consideration, ""^^ 

"Daniel Tompkins." 

The office -was of great value to me. The principal lawyers of the city, 
Harrison, Kiggs, Boyd, Josiah 0. Hoffman, and Samuel Jones, who were the 
friends or contemporaries of my father, gave me their business. The acknowl- 
edgment of deeds yielded $2,000 a year, and the litigated references gave me 
as much more. With full employment, living with great economy, I was en- 
abled to purchase a small house in Varick-street. 

In the year 1817, I was employed by Mrs. Ann C. Morris, as agent, to 
settle the estate of Gouverneur Morris, who executed his last will on 26th 
day of October, and died the 6th day of November, 1816. 

His wife, Ann C. Morris, was appointed executrix, and Moss Kent, the 
brother of Chancellor Kent, the executor. The will declared that he was to 
be paid for his services $10,000. 

Mr. Kent was a most worthy gentleman, a bachelor, who had enjoyed the 
entire confidence of Mr. Morris, and was well acquainted with his property ; a 
better selection could not have been made. 

Upon examining the estate, I found it involved to over $120,000, (one 
hundred and twenty thousand dollars.) The property was a farm at Morris- 
ania, of about IGOO acres ; large tracts of land in the northern part of the 
State of New York and Pennsylvania ; together with an unsettled account 
with Mr. Le Koy de Chaumont, of many years standing, and involving large 
claims for money. Beside these, there was a hotel in Paris. 

Mr. Kent would not qualify as executor, because (as Mrs. Morris said), 
he believed the estate was hopelessly bankrupt. 

Under these circumstances, Mrs. Morris, who, although very intelligent, 
was incapable of performing the trust, was compelled to call for the services 
of a man of business. 

She consulted her friend. Dr. David Hosach, one of the distinguished 
physicians of the City of New York, who advised her to employ me as agent 
to settle the estate. She consented to do so, and authorized Hosach to enframe 

/ DO 

me as agent of the estate ; which he did. Compensation was to result from 
commissions to be computed upon the payment of certain debts, and other suc- 
cessful services. 

Upon examination, the estate was found to be indebted by notes, discounted 
at bank, to about 120,000, and by a bond on which the principal sum unpaid 
was about $83,000, 

Upon examination, I ascertained that the means of the estate were, a valu- 
able real estate of sixteen hundred acres at Morrisania, within nine miles of 
the City of New York, on which there was a large and valuable dwelling 
house ; a hotel ia Paris, which belonged in part to the testator, and also ex- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 47 

tensive tracts of land in the northern part of New York, for which Mr. Morris 
held the title, but iu which Le Roy de Chaumout and others had an interest • 
the extent of which would depend upon a settlement, involving an extended 
investigation of a long-standing account. The hotel in Paris was incumbered, 
and an advance made by Mr. Morris to the Duke of Orleans, the late king 
of France, as follows : 

When Louis Philippe was in exile, he came to New York. I recollect see- 
ing him at my father's house, in this city. This visit was recollected, and ad- 
verted to by the king, at a private interview which he gave me in 1837. 

Gouverneur Morris, in order to aid him, loaned to him in 1796 the sum of 
$6,000, of course without any security, the payment of which could alone de- 
pend upon the restoration of the Orleans family to their estates in France. After 
the Bourbons were restored Mr. Morris made out his account, computing com- 
pound interest at six per cent, per annum. When this statement was presented 
Louis Philippe, then Duke of Orleans, and in possession of his vast estates, 
paid the sum of 32,000 francs, about $6,400, but did not pay compound in- 
terest, and thus the matter stood when the agent's work began. Measures 
were immediately taken, and with success, to present to Louis Philippe tha 
claim for the balance, computed at compound interest; which was paid in 
1818, amounting to 38,000 francs, altogether about $14,000. 

The first and great object of the agent was to release the estate from the 
bond for $83,000, on which the testator was security. This he accomplished 
by a little good management. 

To pay the debt to the bank, and some other small amounts, an arrange- 
ment was made to borrow from an insurance company in New York, secured 
by a mortgage on Morrisania, an amount sufficient to pay all the debts ; and 
thus the estate was rescued from all its entanglements. 

The accounts between Mr. Morris and Mr. Le Roy de Chaumont, were of 
long-standing, and to understand them so well as to make an equitable division 
of the wild land, was a work of great labor. A settlement satisfactory to 
all parties was made, and in justice to Mr. Le Roy de Chaumont, I must say, 
having the game in his own hands, he behaved in a most upright manner. 



CHAPTEK III. 

EARLY POLITICAL LIFE. 

The American newspaper and the Bank of America — An inquiry into the conduct of 
Mr. Van Ness — Effect of the exposures — The duel between — The forged 
challenge to Aaron Burr — Retirement from office — The De Longireraare and 
Mead claims, &c. — Conversations between the Secretary of State and James A. 

: Hamilton, relative to the Spanish treaty — The Presidental contest of 1824 — A 
visit to New Orleans — General Jackson — Incident of the battle of New Orleans 
— Return home — Encounter with Indians — Correspondence with M. Van Buren 
— Appointed an Aide — Banks and Banking. 

The American newspaper, established in the city of New York by Charles 
King, Johnston Ver Planck and James A. Hamilton as proprietors and editors, 
was published weekly. Their leading motive was to expose the corrupt prac- 
tices of a faction in the State of New York, known as Federalists, whose political 
control though very limited in the eastern was very considerable in the western, 
and absolute in a portion of the middle district of the State. The great power 
of this faction "was shown in manipulating the members of the legislature. 
Their aim as partizans was to elect De "Witt Clinton as the candidate of " the 
peace party," President of the United States, in 1812. Mr. Madison was the 
candidate of the Republican party and elected for his second term. On the 
26th January, 1820, an editorial article was published in this paper, alleging 
that the Hon. William W. Van Ness, a judge of the Supreme Court of the 
State of New York, and as such, a member of the Council of Kevision* together 
with Jacob V\,. Van Rensselaer, a member of the legislature and Elisha Wil- 
liams, had been strenuous advocates for chartering the Bank of America ; and 
that notwithstanding the prorogation of the legislature on the 21st March, 
1812, on the express ground of corrupt practices used to carry through that 
charter. It was, in 1812, obtained with a capital of six millions — the Bank to 
pay a bonus to the State of $600,000. It was further stated in the article in 

* By the Constitution of tlie State of New York, at that time, all acts, passed by the 
Legislature must, before they became laws, be aflBrmed by a majority of the Council of Revi- 
sion. This Council consisted of the Chancellor, the Judges of the Supreme Courts and the 
Governor of the State. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 49 

question that iu 1813, an application had been made to reduce this capital to 
four millions, and that the legislature should relinquish five of the $600,000. 
This act was passed by the legislature and concurred in by the Council of 
Kevision.* For the services of Van Ness, Van Rensselaer and Williams it 
was stipulated by the agents for the charter that the bank of Columbia, in 
Hudson, should have a credit not to exceed $150,000 for fifteen years with the 
Bank of America, on which the Bank of Columbia was to pay Qfc, of which 
amount the Bank of America was to refund to the above-named persons 3^ 
per annum ; and, it was alleged, that when this agreement was submitted to the 
. board of directors of the Bank of America, it was opposed as equally unjust 
and dishonorable, and after some delay a commutation was off"cred and accepted 
on which Williams received $20,000. 

It was further declared that Mr. Williams showed so little disposition to 
divide the money that his coadjutors became alarmed for their shares and 
talked of exposing him ; and it was not until Williams compelled them to 
acquiesce in the admission of a fourth person to an equal division of the spoils, 
upon the express ground of that fourth person's having rendered equal service 
in obtaining the charter, that he would consent to its distribution. Van Ness 
received $5,000, Van Rensselaer $5,000 and Williams retained (as creditor of 
that fourth person) $5,000 and an equal sum as his own share. 

On the 26th January G-eneral Root, in the Assembly, introduced a resolu- 
tion, which was passed, that a committee be appointed to inquire into the 
ofiicial conduct of Mr. William W. Van Ness, whether he " hath so acted in his 
official capacity as to require the interposition of the constitutional power of 
the House." Judge Van Ness appeared and asked to be permitted to be 
present in person and by his counsel, which was granted. His counsel were 
John V. Henry, of Albany, Thomas Addis Emmet, and Samuel Jones. The 
chairman of the committee, McKown, was the law partner of John V. Henry, 
having been educated in his office. Abraham Van Vechteu of Albany, and 
John Duer, appeared on behalf of the House of Assembly. 

In the course of the examination of witnesses it apipeared from Oliver 
Wolcott's testimony that a paper in the handwriting of Van Rensselaer was 
submitted to the board of directors of the Bank of America which was produced 
by Mr. Williams and marked Exhibit E.f In that paper it was stated that 
the Bank of America was to give a credit to the Bank of Columbia of $150,000 
at an interest of Q^ per annum for fifteen years to be paid yearly, and the Bank 
of America did consent and agree to pay to Elisha Williams, Jacob R. Van 
Rensselaer for their own use and benefit the one half part of all such interest 



* It is worthy of notice that the nomination of De Witt Clinton for President, by the 
Legislature of New York, was postponed, as the friends of the Bank would not go into caucus 
until the charter had finally passed. As soon as the charter of the bank had passed, on the 
28th May, 1812, a Committee of the Republicans of tha Legislature assembled and nominated 
De Witt Clinton for President. 

\ That paper is now in the possession of the writer. 

4: 



50 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

as became due and payable, and was actually paid by the Bank of Columbia, 
•which said half of the interest was to be paid annually as received by the Bank 
of America. This paper was endorsed in the handwriting of Wolcott, "Pro- 
posed instrument relative to interest receivable from the Bank of Columbia." 

" This was compromised by a payment in money." 

Governor Wolcott when examined as a witness proved that in May 1813, 
he being president of the Bank of America, at a meeting of the directors this 
paper was exhibited and read, and the proposition excited in his mind emotions 
of aversion and disgust which he freely expressed in the presence of the 
directors. He believed such an agreement would be burthensome to the Bank 
of America in its operation, and disgraceful to them to ratify. He said, he was 
assured of its tendency to injure the reputation of the parties more immediately 
concerned in the transaction. Although it was understood that the proposed 
contents were to be concealed yet he considered it absurd to expect such a 
cecret w-ould be kept inviolate for fifteen years — "for myself," he said, "I 
resolved never to be the agent of giving it efiect.'' Several of the directors 
entertained similar opinions with myself, — of these I distinctly recollect Archi- 
bald Gracie, William Bayard and Stephen Whitney. I believe Preserved 
Fish was of the number. It was referred to me to confer with Mr. Williams. 
At the conference with him as one of the parties, after bearing the objections 
and my opinion as to the nature and tendency of the proposed agreements both 
in respect to the two banks and to the reputation and character of the parties 
interested in the proposed agreement, Mr. Williams was willing to accept a 
sum which according to my belief was §20,000, in lieu of the proposed contract. 
In answer to my observations upon the effect of that contract on the character 
'Of the parties, I recollect Mr. Williams saying that he considered himself as 
transacting business with honorable men who would keep the affair secret. 
Most unquestionably it was stated by Mr. Williams that there had been a 
bargain made between him and the agents of the applicants for the incorpora- 
tion of the Bank of America by which the Bank of America was to pay back 
to him one half of the interest which the Bank of Columbia paid to the Bank 
of America. I understood Mr. Williams as recognizing what is stated in Ex- 
hibit E, as being the terms of the original agreement he made with the agents 
for obtaining the incorporation of the Bank of America. The object of the 
■conference was not to get security but to get rid of a bargain as stated, and 
$20,000 was agreed to be paid by the board to get rid of a bad bargain. This 
was quite inconsistent with the idea of a bond. There was no such condition. 
Elisha Williams, a witness, said he was in Albany during the greater pjrt of 
the winter of 1812, and until the prorogation, and also there during a part of 
■the Spring session, and in the Senate until the question was taken which decided 
the fate of the bill. Williams further testified that he promoted the passing 
of the bill, and having made an agreement with people calling themselves agents 
•for the applicants of the Bank of America relating to a credit to be given to the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 51 

bank of Columbia by the bank of America wben that bank should be incorpo- 
rated. 

It was proved by Mr. Bunner, a distinguished lawyer, and afterwards a 
member of Congress, that Van Ness, a Judge of the Supreme Court, and mem- 
ber of the Council of Revision, met frequently in Room No. 10, Gregory's 
Hotel, Albany, during the sittings of the legislature, with the agents of the 
applicants for the incorporation of the bank of America, and did undoubtedly 
show zeal in promoting its success, as much as Mr. Williams, Mr. Newbold or 
Ml'. Post — the two last the open and avowed agents. The witness heard a 
conversation as to how such a member of the legislature would vote : " I am 
certain," he said, " I heard Judge Van Ness " ask " if such a person had been 
talked to, or whether such a person had been seen." I understood and have 
ever since, from conversations mentioned in my former examinations, understood 
that Judge Van Ness considered himself as having a right to one-third of the 
120,000. Mr. Bunner stated also that in 1813 (after the session of the 
legislature which took off the bonus of the bank of Ainerica), he had a con- 
versation with Judge Van Ness on that subject, in which he was informed that 
Williams had received the sum of $20,000 from the Bank of America, and that 
after he knew Williams had received the money, he had an interview with him. 
Judge Van Ness expressed some surpi-ise that Williams liad not paid him. He 
asked Mr. Williams whether he had received the money. He said, he had. 
Van Ness then asked him about the disposition of it> Williams, pointing to a 
bureau, said, " the disposal of it will be found there in my will." Mr. Bunner 
said he understood from Judge Van Ness at that tune that a portion of that 
money belonged to him, and he appeared to doubt whether Williams intended 
to give him his portion. 

In the course of a conversation in the same year, Van Ness expressed his 
dissatisfaction that Mr. Grosvenor should be allowed a portion of the money, 
(Mr. Grosvenor was a member of the legislature when the law passed). I under- 
stand, said Mr. Bunner, that Mr. Williams claimed that Mr. Grosvenor had a 
right to a share for the services he had rendered in the incorporation of the 
bank. Van Ness insisted that Grosvenor had no right to any part of the money. 
He did not dispute the ground of Grosvenor's claim as assigned by Mr. Wil- 
liams, but simply said that Mr. Grosvenor had no right to the money. I under- 
stood Judge Van Ness that he expected the money to be divided between him- 
self. Van Rensselaer and Williams. Mr. Bunner in answer to a question said, 
*« Undoubtedly I understood him (Van Ness) to say, that the money was paid 
by the bank for himself, Williams, and Van Rensselaer." Van Ness stated that 
he believed that Williams introduced the name of Grosvenor, in order to appro- 
priate a larger portion to himself. (Grosvenor was indebted to him.) 

Mr. Gardiner swore that Van Ness, before the application was made, men- 
tioned to him that an application was to be made next winter to the legisla- 
ture, for the incorporation of a bank. He proposed to me or inquired of me 



52 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

how I would like to be au agent to assist in obtaining that incorporation. I 
declined having anything to do with it. I mentioned to Van Ness that I ap- 
prehended this application, from his making it to me, was for a Federal Bank 
— that it was a Democratic legislature, and that I apprehended such an incor- 
poration could not be obtained without corrupting some of the Democratic mem- 
bers of the legislature. In proposing the agency, Judge Van Ness said, " I 
could make a good deal by it if I would undertake it." 

Archibald Gracie sworn. — " If Mr. Newbold had explained in my hearing 
the measures he had pursued or the contracts he had made in procuring the in- 
corporation of the Bank of America — I mean to say, if Mr. Newbold had stated 
to us the various contracts he had made for money and credits in procuring 
the charter of the bank, we (Mr. Wolcott and I) should certainly have with- 
drawn from the association." Tlie substance of Exhibit E was stated to the 
board by Mr. Wolcott. The ratification of that contract was objected to by 
me, and, as far as my memory serves, by Mr. Wolcott. I stated at the board that 
I considered the contract as stated in Exhibit E, and made to the board, as dis- 
graceful and dishonorable and every way exceptionable. I would never agree 
to it. 

The course of proceeding by the committee and the counsel of Judge Van 
Ness (four of the most acute lawyers) was to raise technical objections to all 
the evidence which would lead to the proof of the guilt of the party. 

The counsel objected to the examination of G-overuor Wolcott — they ob- 
jected to the production of the books of the bank, and the committee would 
not order the books to be produced, although urged to do so by the counsel for 
the House. 

The defence of the Judge was that Williams paid him $5,000 for becoming 
security for Williams to the Bank of America. Williams stated that the terms 
of the contract with the agents of the applicants for the incorporation of the 
Bank of America were, that the Bank of Columbia should have a credit with 
the Bank of America, for 8150,000 at S^'o for fifteen years; that this contract was 
made in 1812. 

The testimony of Williams, Van Rensselaer and Newbold was in conflict 
in essential points with that of Governor Wolcott, Archibald Gracie, Jonathan 
Burrill, Budolph Bunner, John Duer, and particularly with the recitals in the 
paper marked Exhibit E, which, according to Van Bensselaer's testimony, was 
the work of Williams and himself. 

By the Resolution of the House, this committee was appointed to inquire into 
the official conduct of Judge Van Ness, and to report their opinion whether he 
had so acted in his official capacity as to require the interposition of the Con- 
stitutional power of the House. This inquiry was surely intended to be con- 
ducted as the proceedings are before Grand Juries ; whereas it was made a reg- 
ular trial as it would have been if there had been an impeachment. The de- 
cision of the committee was contained in a report dated April 5th, 1820. Af- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 53 

ter stating that they had examined a great number of witnesses, they say : 
" From this mass of evidence thus deliberately taken and maturely considered 
your committee are of opinion that there is nothing in the official conduct of 
the Hon. William W. Van Ness that requires the interposition of the Consti- 
tutional power of the House." 

I was removed from the office of Master in Chancery by the Governor, De 
Witt Clinton, without any alleged cause ; but evidently because I had made a 
charge against Judge Van Ness, which although clearly proved by the Judge's 
own statements, was not sustained by the Committee. Van Ness commenced a 
suit against the Editors of the American to recover damages for a libel, founded 
upon the publication in the American. The defendants pleaded specially affirm- 
ing the truth of what they had charged. The plaintiff instead of joining issue 
demurred to the pleas on the ground of irregularity. The question upon the 
demurrer was argued before the Supreme Court ; Emmet, Wells, and 
Jones for the plaintiff. James A. Hamilton, as counsel for the defendants, 
averred that he had drawn the pleas in order to present, as the issue to be tried 
by the jury, the fact that the plaintiff had been guilty of corruption in his 
official capacity, to wit : in receiving money from the Bank of America for 
services rendered as a member of the Court of Revision, and otherwise in ob- 
taining an act of incorporation and a subsequent modification of that act ad- 
vantageous to the Bank. He insisted emphatically, that the character of the 
plaintiff had been impeached in a manner which not only brought him into dis- 
grace, but tended to dlso-race the Court of which he is a member, and the 
State of New York. He declared that he did not intend to argue the technical 
questions raised by the demurrer. He and his associates were not insensible 
to the grave character of the charges, or the responsibility they had assumed 
in making them. In assuming that responsibility they were not influenced by 
any feelings of personal unkindness toward the plaintiff; but they verily be- 
lieved he was guilty of the charge in its broadest sense, and that he and they 
had performed a high duty to the State in bringing him to justice. As to the 
pleas and the demurrer the court will decide according to law: All the de- 
fendants asked the court to do, was to make such a decision as would enable 
them to present in any further pleading an issue distinctly raising the question 
of the guilt or innocence of the plaintiff, who he insisted, instead of endeavour- 
ing to shrink from that issue by technical objections, should, if innocent, court 
a trial upon that issue ; and thus, by a verdict of his peers, the dishonor with 
^hich he was now covered would be wiped out. The defendants were willing 
to meet such an issue and to go before a jury upon the testimony taken before the 
Committee of the House of Assembly. They were not indifferent to thcrcsponsibil- 
ity of their position, they had deliberately charged a member of this Court with 
corrupt practices in his official duties, and they were ready to meet the pecuniary 
damages and all other consequences. And we now call upon the learned gentle- 
men who appear for the plaintiff to unite with us in framing such pleas as will 



54 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

present a clear issue as to the guilt or innocence of their client ; and to take such 
a courseas will lead to a j;ro«i!^>^ /m/. With great respect to those most emi- 
nent advocates we insist that if they shall be unwilling to accept this offer, it will 
manifest a want of confidence in the innocence of their client. 

It is believed no decision was made by the Court; certainly very soon 
afterward the cause was discontinued by the plaintiff. 

The effect of the exposure of this corrupt faction upon the public mind was 
most emphatic as it respected the accused. A convention was demanded by the 
popular voice. The Constitution was amended so as to remove the judges of 
the Supreme Court ; and upon its organization Judge Van Ness was left to pass 
the residue of a misspent life in solitude, a victim to remorse. Williams and 
Yan Rensselaer with their adherents were never heard of again. 

As a Master in Chancery, I had a most extensive and profitable, though 
arduous business. In the case of references involving the investigation of liti- 
gated accounts, such as the settlement of the accounts of executors, trustees, 
and others, I made an effort to introduce a course of practice which would pre- 
sent distinctly the points at issue between the parties, by requiring the com- 
plainant to file a charge, and defendant a dischai-ge, and thus present the items 
of the accounts fully and distinctly to the master, and through his report to 
the Court. 

On the day of , 182-, I made a sale for which I received on 

that day a check for $5,200. I went to the Bank of America, received 
the amount, and from thence to the Bank of New York, where I then and 
now keep my account, to deposit tlie money. On handing my bank book 
with the notes to the receiving teller it was found I was $1,000 short. I 
returned directly to the Bank of America, stated the circumstances, and asked 
the cashier to ascertain whether I had been paid the full amount of the check 
by an examination of the teller's cash. This was done, and it appeared I had 
received the full amount. I advertised the,los3 in the JEveninj Post the day it 
occurred, and offered a reward to the person who had found and would return 
the lost $1,000 note. Several years after, a director of the Bank of America 
called and informed me that a suit by the bank against a man who bad picked 
up a note of $1,000 on the floor near the counter would be tried the next week 
and requested me not to be in the court, or in the city, on the ground that if it 
should bo proved that I had lost a 81,000 note at that time, the bank might 
not recover — there had been one trial without a verdict — the suit had been 
pending several years. He urged that if it should appear that it was my note 
that had been taken from the floor near the desk, I could not recover, because 
the statute of limitation would be a bar to a suit by me. At the same time 
he engaged that if the testimony showed that the note was mine, the bank 
would pay the amount received to me, deducting charges. I assented to the 
arrangement, taking care to send my partner, Mr. Dunlap, an acute lawyer, to 
note down all the testimony. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 55 

It appeared the defendant had told his partner that he had picked up a 
$1,000 note on a particular day, on the floor of the Bank of America, near the 
teller's desk. They agreed that the note should be put away and not used 
for some time ; which being done, an entry was made to that effect on that day. 
The partners afterward quarrelled about their affairs, and he who did not find 
the note informed the bank of the circumstance. The day the note was found 
agreed with the day of my advertisement and of my short deposit. I having 
made my account of the sales good by adding 61,000 of my own funds, was thus 
a loser to that amount. 

The Bank got a verdict for $1,000 interest and costs, which after some 
months' delay was paid. The examination of the evidence by Mr. Dunlap and 
reference to the advertisement and bank book satisfied us both that the note 
picked up from the floor was dropped by me, and therefore belonged to me. I 
said nothing to the bank on the subject. Some months afterwards, the same 
director called upon me on this subject. I pointed out to him the concurrent 
circumstances, and insisted that as the teller's account on the day of my loss 
showed such a note had been paid out, and that I had lost a note paid to me on 
that day, the conclusion was very strong that I had dropped the note which 
the defendant in the suit had found on the floor. The gentleman left me with- 
out assenting to or denying the force of what I had urged, but a few days after 
offered to pay me $500, which I accepted, having no remedy whatever against 
the bank. The offer necessarily implied that the note belonged to me, and if I 
was entitled to anything I was certainly entitled to the whole amount of princi- 
pal and interest, deducting charges paid by the bank. This conduct on the 
part of the bank confirmed the expression that " Corporations have no 
souls." 

Another strange event occurred while I was Master in Chancery and about 
the time the charges was made in the American newspaper against Van Ness 
and others. 

Sitting at my table, having just finished a report and signed it " James A. 
Hamilton, Master in Chancery," Colonel Troup, the early friend of my father, 
came into my office and taking out of his pocket book a paper in the form of a 
note, handed it to me without saying a word. I read it twice, and returned it 
to him together with the paper I had just written and signed. He compared 
the writing of the two papers and said, " I am satisfied it is a forgery." Ac- 
cording to Parton's life of Aaron Burr (page 616) the paper was in these 
words : 

" Aaron Bure — Sir: Please to meet me with the weapon you choose, on tlie 15th 

May, where you murdered my father, at 10 o'clock, with your second. 

(Signed) "James A. IIamilton." 

"May 8th, 1819. 

I was very much excited and angered that Burr should dare to make any 
communication to me ; and that Troup should, as his friend, have been the 



5G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

medium, and under the excitement I very foolishly replied, " Sir I am not satis- 
fied — the note is, as you say, a forgery, but if you come here as the friend of 
Aaron Burr to accept the challenge if sent by me, I adopt it." Troup replied, 
" Such was not my purpose. I did not come here believing you wrote the 
note. I will now return it to Mr. Burr." He then took his leave with evident 
embarrassment. From the character of the writing, I believed it was the work 
of a weak and wicked man who well knew my hand-writing and was devoted to 
the corrupt faction, then the subject of attack in the newspaper, the Ameri- 
can, of which I was an editor and in part a proprietor, and that it was done in 
the hope that I might be disgraced or destroyed. I related the circumstance 
to three discreet friends who agreed with me and thought it best at present not 
to say anything more about it, under the expectation that its author would re- 
port ''that Hamilton had challenged Aaron Burr," and that as this report might 
be traced, the author of the base fraud would be discovered. 

Parton's statement that Burr wrote a reply in these words : — " Boy I never 
injured you, nor wished to injure your father — A, Burr," is a pure invention. 
How did Parton learn that such a reply was written? He says on reflection 
however, " he thought it best not to notice the communication, and tore up his 
reply." If the reply was torn up at the time, as is implied by what be says, 
bow did Parton obtain a copy of it? That Burr did not think it best to notice 
the communication is proved not to bo true, by the fact that he sent Troup with 
the note to me, as I have before stated. He alleges that Bum* addressed me as 
a hoi/. I was then over thirty years of age. 

As to the duel with my father. Burr was defeated at the election in the 
House of llepresentatives by Hamilton through his influence with the Federal- 
ists, many of whom wished to elect Burr in order to defeat Jefi"erson. Among 
other letters written on the occasion by Hamilton, we quote from one to 
Gouverneur Morris, dated 26th December, 1800 : 

1st. "That the Convention with France ought to be ratified as the least of two 
'evils. 

2d. "That on the same ground, Jefferson ouglit to be preferred to Burr — I trust 
that the Federalists will not be so mad as to vote for the latter. I speak with an 
intimate and thorough knowledge of character. His elevation can only promote the 
purposes of the desperate and profligate. If there is a man in the world T ought 
to hate, it is Jefferson. With Burr, I have always been personally well, but the 
public good, must be paramount to every private consideration." 

The public good was always not only his rule of action, but his governing 
principle. 

Again, Burr was a candidate for Governor of New York — Morgan Lewis 
was also a candidate. Hamilton's influence with the Federal party, decided 
the election in favor of the latter. Thus were Burr's hopes of political success 
again frustrated by Hamilton's influence. He could have no prospect of success 
with the anti- Federal party of which he was a member, and he could not carry 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 57 

a sufficient number of the disorganized because defeated, Federal part}-, so long 
as Hamilton lived. 

Burr consequently, under color of the duel, sought to and did assassinate 
Hamilton, The latter in his last moments, referring to the manner of his 
death, said : 

"Duelling was always against my principles. I used every expedient to avoid 
the interview, but I have found for some time past that my life must be exposed to 
that man. I went to the field determined not to take his life." 

Deprived of office, I earnestly devoted my time to ray profession, and with 
some success. John Rodman, District Attorney of New York, being obliged 
by feeble health to pass the winter in the South, employed me to perform the 
duties of his office during his absence. The compensation for these services, 
both arduous and painful, was |50. The great advantage to me was that it 
habituated me to the trial of causes — made me acquainted with criminal law, 
and led to other business which was much more profitable. During this time 
I was employed by an extensive mercantile house in New York to recover a 
claim arising out of a contract with the Spanish Qovernment, and to that end, on 
the 20th of March, 1817, I addressed a letter to the Hon. John Q. Adams, 
Secretary of State, who was negotiating a treaty with that government, giving 
him a brief statement of the claim, and asking that my clients, who were Amer- 
ican citizens, should be protected by their government. To this the Secretary 
replied, that should a treaty be made this claim and others like it would be 
provided for. Thus this matter rested until the Florida Treaty was ratified. 
My clients then requested me to prosecute the claim before the Commissioners, 
and agreed to pay my traveling expenses between Washington and New York 
and in Washington, and to give me, if necessary, a small commission upon the 
amount awarded. The act of Congress passed to carry out the Treaty, appro- 
priated five millions of dollars to pay the claims. Judge White, of Tennessee, 
Littleton W. Tazewell, of Virginia, and William King, former Grovernor of 
Maine, were appointed commissioners. Each claimant was requested by the 
board to present a memorial, giving a brief statement of the grounds of his 
claim, within a given period. 

When this was done, the commissioners examined the several memorials, 
and decided whether a case was presented for further proceedings. The De 
Longuemare claim, of which I had charge, being founded upon a cojitrad., was, 
after much deliberation, rejected, on the ground that contract claims did not 
come within the term and intent of the treaty. This decision was gratifying 
to the great majority of the claimants, because it excluded a large amount of 
claims, and thus the dividends of those which were admitted would be in- 
creased. The celebrated Mr. Pinkney, of Maryland, said to me: "I could 
demonstrate that contract claims were embraced by the treaty ; but you know iu 
these cases we are all Ishmaelites — every man's hand is against his neighbor." 



58 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The Meade claim, being for a very large amount, was, with many others of 
the same character, likewise rejected. I returned to my clients in New York; 
explained to them the grounds of the decision, and expressed my determination 
to carry out a plan I had formed, which I believed would induce a reversal of 
that decision. I explained my purpose to Mr. De Longuemare in confidence ; 
but without inspiring him with the hope I indulged. He was not disposed to 
incur the additional expense of my going to "Washington. I was informed that 
a claim had been allowed in the loss of a ship and her cargo, in which the firm 
of D. & J. had an interest, but to what amount I did not know. I informed 
Mr. De Longuemare of this claim, and proposed to him to prosecute both 
claims. He knew nothing about the last claim ; had no confidence in it, and 
was distressed that he should lose what was equivalent to a fortune to him. 
He, however, said to me : " I will make a new bargain with you : I will incur 
no further expense; but if you choose to go on with the work, I will agree to 
give you the amount you may receive under the last claim, provided you re- 
cover the former one ; if not, I am to have the amount of the last." This I 
agreed to, and I received a power of attorney, authorizing me to present a 
memorial for the last claim in my own name as the attorney for those whom it 
might concern. I returned to Washington, prepared a memorial in relation to 
the last claim — the memorial and proof in regard to the ship and cargo afford- 
ing me the materials, and presented it, to await its turn to be considered. I 
then visited Mr. Adams ; talked over with him the matter in relation to the 
rejected claim, referred to his answer to my letter, calling his attention to the 
claim before the treaty was formed, in which he said he would protect the 
claim if a treaty was made. He insisted that contract claims, as well as those 
arising from torts, were embraced by the terms of the treaty, and were dis- 
tinctly understood by the negotiators to be covered by the treaty. • He refer- 
i-ed to his protocols and various circumstances to prove that this was so ; and 
that the decision of the commissioners was erroneous. I proposed to address 
a letter to him, calling his attention to the case, and to the decision of the 
commissioners, and asking him to give me his opinion upon the subject in 
writing, to which he assented. I then went to see Mr. Hyde De Neuville, 
the French Minister, who had been an intermediary between the negotiators, 
Mr. Adams and Don Onis, the Spanish Minister. De Neuville gave me a cer- 
tificate that the contracting parties intended to include the claims of our citi- 
zens of all kinds whatever arising from contracts for torts, and he obtained for 
me a letter from Don Onis to the same effect. 

I prepared my letter to Mr. Adams with great care, and put it into his 
hands. He told me he would give me an answer as soon as possible. I re- 
turned to New York ; and after waiting several days for the answer, returned 
to Washington. At this period the journey to Washington was made by stage. 
During my repeated journeys on this business I passed over the road at least 
twenty times, and on one occasion was ten hours in going between Baltimore 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 59 

and Washington in a stage-coach. On the 4th of March, 1822, I went early 
to the department, found Mr. Adams there. As soon as I entered, he took 
a letter from his table, delivered it to me, saying, " I was about to mail it to 
you. I regret to say, the letter will disappoint you." I read it. The Presi- 
dent had directed him not to give any opinion as to claims — either to claim- 
ants or their agents, and only to the commissioners when they requested him 
to do so. I asked permission to call upon him again whenever he had time to 
receive me. He said, " To-morrow at 9 o'clock at my house." 

I went there, and said frankly to Mr. Adams that under the decision of Mr. 
Monroe, the President, my clients by a mere matter of etiquette and official 
form were to be deprived of a large amount of money, and I of all compensation 
for my long and arduous services ; (I had been at Washington about two years 
on this business.) Mr. Adams said : " Yes, I regret that it is so." I then 
said : " You have again and again, in conversation with me, asserted that these 
claims are covered by the treaty; you have referred to your papers to cor- 
roborate that opinion, and I have your engagement that this claim should be 
provided for whenever a treaty should be made, and the assurance in writing of 
Don Onis and Mr. De Neuville to the same effect. Ihme always and do still 
consider these conversations with you as confidential. I have thei'efore felt bound 
not to make use of what you have told me without your consent. These con- 
versations were held with me before the President's interdict. Now I ask your 
permission to make use of those conversations; and to communicate in writing 
to the commissioners what you have stated to me on this subject lefore the m- 
terdict of the President, together with the declaration of Don Onis and the 
French Minister. I can thus attain without a violation on your part of the 
directions of the President, the object I have in view. Mr. Adams rose from 
bis chair, put his arm on the mantle, stood so for a few moments in deep medi- 
tation, and then replied with emphasis : "You have properly considered my 
conversations with you as confidential. You are now at liberty to use, as you 
please, all I have said to you heretofore on the subject; but you must first 
submit to me what you write, that I may be assured that my opinions and 
statements are correctly set forth, 

I thanked him cordially, and took my leave, and immediately wrote down 
Mr. Adams' conversations with me precisely as I recollected them, and after 
making a fair copy enclosed that in a note addressed to him, and delivered it 
to him at the Department. The following is a copy of that paper : 

COXVEIISATIONS BETWEEN TlIE SECRETARY OF StATE AND JaMES A. HAMILTON 

IN Relation to the 5th Section of the 9tu Article of the Treaty 
WITH Spain. 

Mr. Hamilton requested to be informed by Mr. Adams whether the parties 
to the Treaty, and particularly the Government of the United States, did or 



CO REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

not intend to embrace claims arising out of contracts within the 5th renuncia- 
tion of the 9th article of the Treaty with Spain. Mr. Adams replied substan- 
tially as follows : 

" During the negotiation, no distinction was ever made by Mr. Onis or myself, be- 
tween claims arising out of contracts or from torts, or any others which might 
partake of the character of botli. It unquestionably was the intention of both the 
parties to the treaty to provide for all claims of citizens of the United States upon 
the Spa,iiish Government, of which statements had been made to this Government; 
whether arising out of contracts or torts ; and the 5th renunciation, at the request 
of the Spanish Minister was acceded to l)y our Government, in order to include all 
claims as to whieli the aid of the Government had been called for. The course of the 
negoti.'itlon on the suhject was this: 

" The 5th section of the 9th article, nearly in its present form, was a part of tlie 
project sent to me by Mr. Onis, It was considered by our Government inadmissi- 
hle, because it would include claims by contract as weU as others, and it therefore did 
not form a counter project sent by me to Mr. Onis. 

"Mr. Onis afterwards requested that section to be restored, to wliich the Presi- 
dent and his Cabinet, or such of the gentlemen composing it as were [jresent at tl;e 
consultation, acceded, and it was restored March 5, 1822, 

(Signed) " James A. IIamilton." 

This statement I handed to Mr. Adams, and when he had looked it over, 
he desired m.e to call at his house in the afternoon for the paper. I did so, 
and found he had changed some parts of my paper making it more dcfi!?ite, and 
presenting the arguments in favor of his opinion in stronger language, with the 
addition of some important facts. I took this paper, copied it, and went with 
both to Judge White. He read the original with Mr. Adams' corrections, and 
T read my copy. I then told him it was my intention to send the copy I had 
made, together with the papers I had received from Don Onis and De Neu- 
ville, to the Board ; and I asked him to say that he had seen the original with 
Mr. Adams' corrections, thus proving that they were hi,s opinions in his own 
language. This was done, and the commissioners reversed their previous 
decision. Tazewell was vexed, for he had induced the former decision by his 
refinements. He abused Mr. Adams, and insisted that I had " bamboozled 
him." My memorial was received; the proofs were certain, and a very large 
sum was awarded to my clients, which I afterwards received at the Treasury, and 
paid over to M. De Longuemare and to Mistress Jewell their respective shares. 
In the meantime the other claim was allowed, and about $20,000 was awarded 
to me, wliich I also received as my own, less $2,000, which I paid to the person 
who called my attention to it, and aided me in obtaining the facts and the proofs. 

I was employed to prosecute the claim presented by Mr. Bunner, the ad- 
ministrator of the estate of John B. Church, who married my mother's eldest 
sister. In this ease the cjuestiou of citizenship was raised under the following 
statement of facts. This gentleman came from England during the Revolu- 
tionary war. He was a clever, enterprising, industrious man, and probably 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 61 

from Lis previous employment in the business of bis uncle, wbo was a banker in 
London, was an expert accountant. He was then known as Jolm Carter^ and 
by that nume employed by Congress to settle the accounts of the Northern 
Army, then commanded by Major-General Philip Schuyler, and thus was 
introduced to the General's family. He married his daughter Angelica with- 
out her father's consent. Mr. Carter or Church, I know not when he assumed 
the last, his true name, was afterwards, with Wadsworth, Commissary of the 
French Army, and in that employment amassed an immense fortune without 
any reproach. After the war, Church went to Paris, settled his accounts with 
the French Government, returned to England, his native counti-y, purchased a 
borough, was returned to the House of Commons, and formed intimate rela- 
tions with Charles Fox, who borrowed from him twenty thousand pounds 
sterling. Church remained in England until about 1790, when he came to 
New York with his family, purchased real estate in that city, enjoyed all the 
rights and performed all the duties of an American citizen. He voted, and 
from time to time served as a juryman, having, as he said, " the misfortune fre- 
quently to serve on the jury with eleven devilish obstinate men." 

In the enjoyment of extensive means, he lived expensively, was hospitable, 
and having a disposition to indulge in games of chance, he became, with sev- 
eral gentlemen of New York, an out-door insurer. During that period, when 
our commerce was almost annihilated by the policy of England and France, 
his fortune was essentially impaired, and thus the claims for losses under the 
Florida Treaty arose. He remained in this country until about 1811, when 
he went to England not intending to return, and died there. Under this state 
of facts, the question whether he was an American citizen arose, and after a 
free and full discussion the commission decided that Church was a citacn on 
the ground that. " once a citizen, always a citizen." The claim was allowed 
and paid. I had two other claims in which I was successful. 

During my attendance upon the commission, I frequently visited Kufus 
King and Mr. Van Buren, then Senators from New York. Mr. King took a 
deep interest in my success. At one visit I well recollect he expressed regret 
that I had not come in a little sooner, because, he said, " Giles, late Governor 
of Virginia, has been with me and talking of your father and the events of the 
day; he made a clean breast of it. (You know it was he who in 1793 intro- 
duced in the House of Representatives resolutions concerning yonr father's 
management of the Treasury.) Governor Giles said, ' I did not believe Ham- 
ilton had done anything wrong ; those resolutions were drawn up by Mr. 
Madison, who urged me to present them; that Madison was the most vindictive 
little fellow he had ever known.' " At another visit, Mr. King told me that 
Van Buren wished to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and that he, Mr. King, had urged his appointment, He then 
asked me if I thought he would make a good Judge. I replied : " He is 
entirely trustworthy," and at the bar prepared his causes with great industry, 



02 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

and argued them well. Judge Thompson received the appointment, and Van 
Buren was very much dissatisfied. 

Calhoun called upon me, and invited me to an evening party. When I was 
presented to him, he expressed much pleasure at seeing me, and said, "I wish 
you would remain near me until my guests have all come in; I wish to talk 
with you." I did so — and shortly afterwards he took me by the arm, walked 
to a corner of the room, asked me if he could render me any service in Wash- 
ington : and after expressing his admiration for my father, said, " Sir, I have a 
clear conviction after much reflection, and an entire knowledge and familiarity 
with the history of our country and the working of our government, that his 
policy as developed by the measures of Washington's administration, is the only 
true policy for the country." I expressed my thanks : he introduced me to 
some of his friends and asked me to call upon him whenever I had leisure to 
do so. 

Calhoun was then hoping to be President, and doubtless supposed I would 
communicate to my Federal friends these views. 

During the period of my attendance on the commissioners under the Florida 
Treaty, I became acquainted with William Crawford, whom Irving much esteem- 
ed. He was intelligent, well informed and scrupulously upright. His views in 
regard to the administration of the government seemed to me to be very judi- 
cious. 

During this time, there was an active canvass going on in Washington as 
to who should be the candidate of the Ecpublican party at the election in 1824. 
I became interested in Mr. Crawford, and worked hard for his election. 

Martin Van Bcren to James A. Hamilton. 

" "Washington, January 26, 1825. 
"My Dear Hamilton : I wrote you a long letter the other day, but burnt it in 
consequence of its having been delayed but one day, and that short period Laving 
worked an almost entire revolntiou in the state of things here. At present our af- 
fairs are situated thus; — Clay and Lis friends Lave settled down for Adams. TLis 
makes for Adams, certain, the following States; five in New England, Illinois, Oliio, 
and Kentucky. Tlie States on which they calculate, and the only ones to wLicli 
tliey can lay tlie least claim, are Ehode Island, New York, Maryland, LJissonri and 
Louisiana — making the thirteen. They must get every one of them to succeed, and 
they have no pretensions to any other. Tiie unexpected and apparently unnatural 
course taken by Mr. Clay's friends, has produced the strongest possible feelings of 
resentment. Jackson's friends are of course in arms. The combination is avowedly 
liostile to Mr. Callioun, and his friends are highly excited. The push on tlie part 
of Mr. Adams' supporters will he to succeed on the first ballot. If they do not there 
is no such tiling as forming a rational conjecture as to after results. Ida not ielicve 
they will so succeed, but their chance is far from desperate. It will depend on 
slight circumstances how the matter goes after the first ballot. Mr. Crawford's 
chance in the house will then be better than it has been at any period. Ills friends 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 63 

adhere to their determination to abide by him. Even if they wished to support 
Jackson, that woukl, under the circumstances, be tlie most advisable course. I will 
not say absolutely that it is not possible for Crawford's friends to elect Jackson, but 
I doubt it extremely. It is certain that there would be greater probability of suc- 
cess if Jackson's friends "were to support Crawford. To that we look. If the ques- 
tion was now between Crawford and Adams, and South Carolina was to decide it, 
Mr. Crawford would succeed, I thank you Tiindly for your oflFer to come down. I 
do not see that it can be of any avail, but if you bave curiosity to be here why not 
gratify it. I have had hard work to keep on the ground I suggested to you, but have 
succeeded in doing so, and find cause for gratification in having done so. As long as 
Eddy holds out, there is amoral certainty that Adams cannot he elected; but you 
know how he will stand if Adams gets the twelve States. Yours truly, &c." 

Maktin Van Bueen to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, December 20, 1826. 
" My Deae Sir : I return you Bunner's letter. Ilis feelings are evidently against 
us, and nothing but the fear of being regarded as a deserter will keep him on the 
right side. The only way of efi^ecting that, in my judgment, is to speak of his going 
over as a probable event attributable to the insincerity of liis conversion. Unless 
restricted by you I will in a few days hold that sort of talk to Verplank, to w'hom 
by right he must look for his safety. My conversation will of course be such as to 
exclude suspicion of what ought not to be known. B. is right in one thing. There 
is not the least doubt that everything Noah says against Adams does him great good 
with our country Republicans who look upon Noah literally with abhorrence. Is 
there not spirit enough in the Democratic party of the great city of New York to 
establish a press in which honest men can confide? Belts is nominated for judge. 
The Federalists struggled hard to prevent it, but have been quieted by the assurance 
that it was necessary to give a few appointments to the Bucktails, as they call us, to 
divide them and thus enable the same sort of coalition which succeeded in 1826 to 
triumiih in 1828. Taylor has been chief manager in tlie business, that is certain. 
Mr. Sandford, to my knowledge, was not advised wnth or of the matter. Judge 
Betts had, you know, an avenue of direct approach to the President through * * 
* * But the leading motive is to enable Young and Porter to make a party out 
of the Democratic iutei-est in the State. If you had any other paper than Nonh's 
you could make much of this huckstering, siniffling course ; but the least said about 
it the better. I have not at present the least doubt of my election. My accounts 
warrant that belief. The administration here will be cautious how they meddle. 
It seems they are determined not to give me up. For the last two days the report 
of the day has been that the oflice of Secretary of State was to be offered to me, 
and Mr. Clay to run for the Vice Presidency, &c., &c. There is no doubt that the 
folks hei-e would do any thing now that was desired of them, but it is out of the ques- 
tion. They have nothing in their gift that I would hesitate a moment in refusing; 
but this language you know it w^ould not do to hold publicly. My time has come. 
Write me often and frankly. Truly yours, &c." 



C4 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Martin Van Burex to James A. Hamilton, 

"Washington, December 30, 1820. 
"My Dear Hamilton: I cannot ailvise as to the use of the letter until I see it. 
If you are not wiUinuj to send nie a copy, with directions to burn it after read, the 
matter must rest until I can see yon. You have certainly a riglit to use all lawful 
weapons to get at the means necessary to do justice to your father's memory. I beg 
you to get and send me fortliwith such extracts from the correspondence between 
General Washington and your father as relates to the power of the General Govern- 
ment over tlie subject of internal improvements. If it can be useful I will send it 
back to your brother John, and get it authenticated, as he has the other extract. 
Don,'' t forget this, as I onny tcant to use it soon. You liave seen the blow up about the 
Vice-President. lie has turned the war completely into the enemy's camp. Taylor 
has outraged all propriety in the appointment of the committee. The Vice-Presi- 
dent's friends, as you will see by the telegraph, believe that this is done not so much 
to harass him as to defend themselves by preventing inquiries as to who moved the 
wires. Satterlee Clark, who is the ostensihie man, is from your city, and talks big 
here about iSTew York politics. He makes speeches about the certainty of my defeat, 
&c. &c. Very sincerely your friend, &c. 

" P. S. Inter nos.—l dined with the President on Friday, when the following 
dialogue took place: President — 'I am much troubled, sir, about the appointment of 
Surveyor in New York.' Answer — ' I presume so. It was a source of much trouble 
to Mr. Monroe.' President — 'Yes, but his was voluntary.' Keply — ' I presume you are 
bard pressed to re-appoint the present incumbent?' President — 'Yes, and I liave 
great repugnance to the act.' A long pause — but nothing more said on either side. 
Ought I to liavc said more unless expressly asked? The design in introducing the 
conversation was obvious, but it is too late in the day. I was so certain from John 
King's manner and conversation when he left me, that he carried instructions to 
open the war upon me, that I wrote to Campbell my impression by the same mail, 
and requested Gei:eral A^au Rensselaer to lay by the ammunition for me." 

Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton to uer Son, James A. Hamilton. 

"Mat 11, 1827. 
" My Dear Son : Your unremitting kindness and attentions, and in this last 
instance of providing for my comfort, demands my most ardent and affectionate 
thanks. As I think my wants will not require your enclosed check until the autumu, 
let me say to you that when I shall require your goodness to aid me I will call upon you. 
As all good acts arc recorded in the habitation where your father now is, I iiave no 
doubt this one will be proclaimed to him, and have thus given liim another motive 
to implore continued blessings upon you. Amen, my dear son ! Your affectionate 
mother." 

This letter, so full of kindness and fervent piety, aflfords a suitable occasion 
to record another, and her last, evidence of her affection for the same son. [ In 
1854 my mother resided in Washington (her daughter, Mrs. Eliza Holly, living 
with her). On the 8th day of November, 1854, I was informed by my sister 
that our mother was quite sick. I went immediately to Washington, and 
arrived there on the morning of 9th November. I found my mother so sick as to 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 65 

induce a belief that she would not recover, and such, I learned from her attend- 
ing physician, was his opinion. She had no acute disease or pain. I passed 
the day in her room, and in the evening my dear good sister, who was so unre- 
mitting in her attentions, said to me, " James, I sat up with mother last night, I 
wish you to do so to-night ; I will sleep on the sofa in the next room ; there is 
no medicine to be given to her ; should there be any change, call me." This was 
about nine at night. I took my seat at the bedside with my face to my mother's, 
holding the pulse of her right wrist with my right hand, and so continued about 
two hours, the pulse growing more feeble all the time. At length, about eleven 
o'clock, mother in a clear voice asked me to change the bedclothes at her feet, 
which I did, and then, intending to resume my place', I bowed my head down to 
see if there was any change in her countenance. She put her arm around my 
neck, pressed me to her, kissed me most affectionately ; and said, '• God bless 
you, you have been a good son ;" the arm was relaxed, there was a slight 
hiccough, a slight discharge of dark-colored liquid from the sides of her mouth, 
and she was dead — her pulse and breath were gone. I wiped off her mouth, 
kissed her, and called my sister. Her intellect seemed to be as clear at the 
last moment of her life as it ever was. It was my good fortune to have almost 
the entire care and management of her 'affairs. The elder son, Alexander, was 
away from home attending to his commercial affairs. I remained at the Grange 
with her as long as she remained there, attending to the cultivation and house- 
hold, and after her father's death I became useful in collecting her rents and 
selling such parts of her property as her needs required. She was a most 
earnest, energetic, and intelligent woman. Her engagements as a principal of the 
Widow's Society and Orphan Asylum were incessant. In support of these 
institutions she was constantly employed, and as I once playfully told her, 
"Mamma, you are a sturdy beggar." She replied, "My dear son, I cannot 
spare myself or others ; my Maker has pointed out this duty to me, and has 
given me the ability and inclination to perform it." Her mind and body never 
rested, because both were always employed. She was a skilful house-wife ; 
expert at making sweetmeats and pastry ; she made the undergarments for her 
children, was a great economist and most excellent manager. During the few 
last years of her life, living at Washington, she took great interest in j)ublic 
affairs. Without intending to say any thing offensive, she habitually spoke of 
the slave-holding States as the " African States." She was a devout Christian, 
the best of wives, mothers, and women. At the time she was the principal of 
the Orphan Asylum, she found a little fellow in the arms of a fireman whose 
parents had been destroyed by the burning of their house. Being an orphan, 
she directed the fireman to take the little " McKavit " to the Orphan Asylum, 
on the Bloomingdale Road, giving him the means to hire a carriage to do so, 
and gave him her card, with directions to say she had sent him with the boy, 
who was to be taken care of. This was done. He was a bright boy — x-eeeived 
as good an education as the asylum afforded. When he arrived at the proper 

5 



66 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

age (16 years), she obtained a place for bim at tbe Military Academy. He 
went tbrougb tbe course ; was put back tbe first year for deficiency, but 
ultimately took bis degree. Sbe tbeu obtained a commission for bim as a 
Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He remained in tbe army, was promoted to a- 
captain, was in tbe Mexican \Var, and was killed at Monterey gallantly leading 
bis company into tbe bottcst of tbe figbt. He contributed to tbe asylum every 
year after be left it an annual sum, and tbe day before bis deatb be made a will 
and bequeatbed all be bad to tbe asylum. Tbe writer of tbis note collected 
* back pay and investments ; tbe sum. according to bis best recollection, was about 
ei'i-bteen bundled dollars, wbicb was paid over to Mrs. Betbune, tbe principal 

directress. 
X My success as tbe agent of claims under tbe Florida Treaty enabled me to 
pay off a mortgage of $3,000 on a two-story brick bouse in Varick near Broome 
street in wbicb I lived several years, and to enter upon a new course oT life. 

From 1825, wben I purcbased eigbty lots of ground, as before stated, I 
devoted my attention to making money by dealing in real estate in New York 
and Brooklyn, and building bouses, witb very marked success. I purcbased a 
block of ground bounded by four streets, near tbe Navy Yard, Brooklyn, witb 
a dwelling bouse, at public auction, wbtcb I divided into lots and sold at over 
one bundred per cent, advance. I purcbased lots in Jackson street, built four 
two-story brick bouses, and sold tbem at a considerable advance. In association 
witb Mr. C. H. Hall, I built a Bull's Head tavern corner of Twenty-fourtb 
street and Tbird Avenue, and laid out proper yards between tbat and Twenty- 
tbird street ; I also built two brick dwellings nortb of Twenty-fourtb street 
and Tbird Avenue. I sold tbe Bull's Head property and tbe two bouses 
for forty tbousand dollars. I built a tbree-story brick bouse in Laigbt street, 
and one in Varick street, wbere I lived for several years. I purcbased a large 
square on Broadway, wbere tbe New York Hotel now stands, for fifty-two tbous- 
and dollars. After bolding it for tbree or four years, I sold it in parcels at a 
very great advance. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROXI DECEMBER, 1827, TO DECEMBER, 1828. 

A visit to New Orleans — Gen. Jackson at home — A banquet in Nashville — Incidents 
of the Battle of Few Orleans — Anecdotes about Gen. Jackson — Threat to shoot 
a river pilot — Mrs. Jackson's Arrival at New Oi-leans — Entertainments — A negro 
ball — Mobile — Adventure witli the Indians — Impressions of Gen. Jackson — 
Political manoeuvres — Offer of a position as aide-de-camp ou Gov. Van Baren's 
staff— The offer declined, but the appointment made — Paper on banks and bank- 
ing. 

In December, 1827, I was appointed by the Corporation of the City of New 
York, together with Messrs. Saul Alley and Thaddeus Phelps, to present to his 
Excellency the Governor of the State of Louisiana, a copy of Mr. Colden's 
memoir " on the New York Canals, with a medal struck to commemorate 
the completion of the Erie Canal ; and to represent the Republican Citizens 
of the City of New York, and, in their behalf, to tender to Major-General 
Andrew Jackson their congratulations on the return of the glorious anniversary 
of the Battle of New Orleans." 

This appointment was made without my knowledge, or any intimation by 
whom, or from what consideration, the honor was conferred upon me. I ac- 
cepted it with pleasure, because it afforded me an opportunity to see much of 
our country, and particularly one of those men who, by a brilliant military 
achievement, had rendered it a very important service. 

As my associates had gone to New Orleans on business, I decided to make 
my way to the residence of Gen. Jackson, Nashville, Tennessee, and to accom- 
pany him to New Orleans. 

I left Washington by stage for Wheeling, in Virginia, on the 13th day of 
December, 1827 ; passed through Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, from thence to Louis- 
ville, which place I left on the 19th, for the mouth of the Cumberland Ptiver; 
left Smithland on the 21st, and arrived at Nashville on Sunday, the 23d of 
December, at 7 o'clock p. m. 

The next day Col. Ward, a neighbor and much, valuel friend of General 



68 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Jackson, called upon nie, and proposed to accompany me to the Hermitage, 
twelve miles distant from Nashville. We travelled on horseback. On our 
arrival, at mid-day, the Genei-al received us most cordially. 

There came to dinner William B. Lewis, Robert Armstrong, and others. 
A peculiarity of Western entertainment Avas, that as soon as dinner was an- 
nounced, all the gentlemen went to the side-board in the drawing-room to take 
a drink, and then all went into the dining-room. I observed during all my 
visit that the table was loaded with food, and in all the spare rooms there were 
two beds. The General's house was the stoppiug-place for travellers going to 
Nashville. Here they ate and slept, not occasionally, but from day to day ; so 
much so, that the General said to me, " Colonel, we must take our horses ; we 
have no opportunity to be alone here." The evening of the day I arrived, there 
drove up a farmer with wife, children, and servants, to stay the night ; and such 
■was the usual course of things. " He kept a tavern, without the privilege of 
making a bill." 

During the second morning Mrs. A. J. Donelson (whom I afterwards so 
well knew and so much esteemed and admired) came up to the door on horse- 
back, with her infant in her arms, and the colored nurse on another horse. I 
was astonished to see a young and delicate lady and mother making a visit in 
this manner, and was told it was the most convenient ; because the streams, 
o-enerally speaking, in the country, were not bridged ; and from house to house, 
off the general highways, they travelled in by-paths. 

On the 24th Dec, 1S27, I was invited by a portion of the citizens of Nash- 
ville to a public dinner at the Nashville Inn. 

The dinner was numerously attended. It was given in the house where 
Jesse and Thomas Benton made a deadly assault upon Gen. Jackson. The 
place of the assault was shown, and all the circumstances related to me. Jack- 
.son's life was only saved by his coolness and courage. 

The General's conversation was frank and interesting. He seemed anxious 
to learn the characters of different public men in New York, and particularly 
as to Clinton and Van Buren ; their probable course and their influence upon 
the approaching election. Afterwards I became convinced that, confident of suc- 
cess, he was looking to the future. 

His opinion of Clinton was elevated ; and, as I believe, far above his 
deserts. He had heard much of Van Buren that was unfavorable. I replied 
that I had known him well before the war of 1812 ; that he Avas then an 
earnest and useful supporter of the Government. His reputed cunning was 
referred to. I replied that I had not seen any thing of that kind ; that he was 
unquestionably sagacious, proverbially cautious; and that his success in his 
profession was due to his industry in preparing, and his skill in trying, his 
causes. His political success was due rather more to the folly and want of 
patriotism of the opposing faction, and the popular impulses connected with the 
■war. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 69 

The General spoke liigbly of the course of Rufiis King during the war, as 
opposed to that of Eastern Federalists. I was satisfied he thought very highly 
of Clinton. 

The General related the following incidents connected with the Battle of 
New Orleans. When his boats with his army made the shore above the city, he 
was informed that the enemy were landing below. He immediately ordered 
his men to prepare to advance, and, attended by a few cavalry, he, with Edward 
Livingston, went into the city. On his way to the front he was met and stop- 
ped by a crowd of men and women in great distress. 

" I told Livingston, who understood their language, to address them, and to 
say, ' I am going down to meet the enemy. I will drive them off, or die in 
your defence.' He did so. I loent on my way to duty, they went off to dance.'''' 
His first entrenchments were lower down the river ; finding they were not 
advantageously situated, he placed them where they were when the great battle 

was fought. I remarked, " You retreated, then ? " " Yes, by the , and it 

was the only time I ever retreated in my life." 

One of the large guns was commanded by a captured pirate, who was an 
excellent gunner. The General said, " Never was a gun fired with more 
rapidity, skill, and effect. At every discharge it swept through the line of the 
enemy, making a wide gap, which was again and again filled up immediately, 
with a degree of courage 1 never before witnessed. At length, however, they 
faltered, and I then said, ' Fire away ; by God, I have them ! ' " 

At the period of my visit, the currency in that part of the country was 
scarce. The banks were bankrupt, as I learned ; and before measures wei-e taken 
by the Government to restore specie payments, the currency was so extended, 
that land which had before sold for ^8, or §10, per acre, was then held at about 
$70, and so of all other values. 

The Treasury used the Bank of the United States, Madison's Bank, to re- 
deem the currency. Very many who lost money by the change attributed their 
losses to the Bank; and from the views and feelings expressed by the General 
as to the course of the Bank, I inferred he was one of those who had suffered, 
and who took that view. He expressed strong opinions against the Bank of 
the United States; and to my great astonishment said, (when excited,) ^'■Colonel, 
your Father was not in favor of the Bank of the United States."" I was confound- 
ed, and at a loss what to say, as I did not suppose he spoke from want of knowl- 
edge, but from a reference to this particular Bank, and made no reply. 

The steamer Pocahontas was chartered by citizens of New Orleans to con- 
vey the General and his party from Nashville to that city. She was fitted out 
in the most sumptuous manner. The party was General and Mrs. Jackson, two 
gentlemen with their wives, a young lady. Miss B — , Governor Samuel Hous- 
ton, Wm. B. Lewis, Robert Armstrong, and others, and the New York dele- 
gate. The only freight was the General's cotton-crop. 

Daring the voyage, we stopped at the different towns on the river, at the 



70 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

most of wliiclx tlie people were assembled ; and at the principal ones, commit- 
tees addressed the General, to whom he made appropriate replies. In the course 
of the voyage an event occurred, which I repeat, as it is suggestive of character. 
A steamer of greater speed than ours, going in the same direction, passed us, 
crossed our bow ; then stopped and let us pass her ; and then passed us again 
in triumph. This was repeated again and again, until the General, being ex- 
cited by the offensive course, ordered a rifle to be brought to him ; hailed the 
pilot of the other steamer, and swore that if ho did the same thing again he 
would shoot him. As I believed the General was in earnest, and as such an 
outrage could not be of service to our cause, I went below and stated to Mrs. 
Jackson what had occurred ; she said mildly, " Colonel, do me the favor to say 
to the General I wish to speak to him." I did so. He went to the cabin with 
me, and remained there in chat with her. 

I conversed much with Mrs. Jackson, and found her an amiable, sensible 
woman. It has frequently occurred to me that it was a Very great misfortune 
that she did not live to exert her influence over the General, and guide him by 
her good sense and good feelings, when he was President. If she had been 
alive, the great mistake in relation to Mrs. Eaton would not have been made. 

Mrs. Jackson was an uncommonly ugly woman — I mean in her appearance 
only. She was the first woman I ever saw smoke a cigar. She was correct and 
easy in her manners, playful in conversation, and fond of a joke, as the fol- 
lowing will show : 

Before we arrived at Natchez, where I was to leave the party and go on to 
meet my colleagues, the young lady of the party told me she feared her bonnet 
was not fit to be seen at New Orleans, and asked me if I could not 
get one for her and send it aboard, before they landed. As an enterprising 
man, and not a little disposed to be gallant, I replied : " If you are willing to 
trust to my taste, I will make the attempt." Shortly afterward, the two young 
married ladies, hearing Avhat had occurred, asked me to get bonnets for them, 
which I also engaged to do. A day or two after this, Mrs. Jackson said : " Colo- 
nel, I wish you would do me a great favor," I replied, " Madam, it will afford 
me much pleasure to render you any service in my power." " I have under- 
stood you have engaged to get bonnets in New Orleans for these ladies. Now 
I wish to test your enterprise by asking you to get a bonnet for me and a le- 
coming one.'''' This was said with a serai-serious air, which induced the ladies 
as well as herself to smile, 

I replied, " I will prove to you, madam, that I have the skill as well as enter- 
prise to do ail you require." 

As soon as I arrived at New Orleans, I presented a letter of introduction 
Mr, Livingston had given me to Mr. Montgomery, and by the advice of his 
family I went to the most fashionable milliner in New Orleans; purchased for 
the ladies their several bonnets, and had them properly packed and sent to the 
party on board the steamer above the city. The bonnets were worn by the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON, 71 

ladies at tbeir reception ; and Mrs, Jackson was tbo belle of tbe occasion. Tbe 
General stopped at Natcbez, wberea committee of arrangements bad come up to 
meet bim. It was arranged tbat be sbould leave tbe steamer at tbe battle-field, 
wbere he and bis party would be received by tbe Governor. Tbis was done ; 
and after addresses by tbe Governor and otbers, tbe New YorK committee were 
presented, and an address was made by tbe writei*, as cbairman of tbe committee ; 
to wbieh an appropriate reply was made by tbe General. 

Tbe delegates addressed tbe following letter to bis Excellency Henry 
Johnson, Governor of Louisiana. 

" Sir : We have been desired by the Corporation of the city of Few York to deliver 
to you a Medal, struck iu commemoratioa of the completion of the Erie Canal ; a copy 
of Mr. Colden's Memoir on the New York Canals, with a letter from the appropri- 
ate committee ; and are ready to wait upon your Excellency to perform that duty, 
whenever it will be most agreeable to you to receive us. 

" We have the honor to be, with great respect, your liumhle servants, 

"James A. Hamiltost, 
"Saul Alley, 
" Thaddeus Pptelps. 
"To his Excellency Henry Jolmson, Governor of Louisiana." 

To which tbe Governor replied, tbat be would receive tbe delegation at 10 
o'clock of the morning of tbe 9tb of January. 

On tbat day tbe delegation met the Governor, and Mr. Hamilton, in tbeir 
behalf, presented the memoir and letter ; to which tbe Governor replied : 

"I receive, Gentlemen, with tbe greatest pleasure, the testimonials which the 
Corporation of the city of New York have been pleased to offer through you, of 
their approbation of the conduct of my fellow-citizens on the glorious 8th of January, 
1815. The beautiful specimen of art, and tlie valuable productions of knowledge 
and talent which you present, would be at any time highly interesting. Given on 
the present occasion, as a compliment from the Corporation of the first city in the 
Union, they afford the proudest satisfaction; and tliey will be appreciated by the 
people of Louisiaun, as they are by me. The State of New York enjoys the distinc- 
tion of having led the van." 



^o 



A part of tbe programme was, tbat tbe General and bis party were to go to 
the Catholic church, wbere an aged Catholic priest was to make an address to 
bim. Tbe address was prepared and brought up by tbe committee, and given 
to tbe General, tbat be might be enabled to prepare bis answer. Tbis was a 
poser ; bis friends were much at a loss bow to make a proper ansvrer at a religious 
ceremony. They stated their difficulty to tbe General, who said, " Oli, give it 
to tbe Colonel ; be knows how to address such a character." I took the address 
with me, prepared tbe answer, and delivered it to tbe General ou bis way to 
tbe church. 

Tbe next entertainment was a public dinner, wbere speeches were made 
in French and English. They were translated from one language into the 



72 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Other by Major Dayis, witli great focilitj. That made by the delegates 
from New York, by their chairman, was a tolerably good speech when given 
in French by the translator, with his eloquent emendations, easy and flowing 
language. Next and last was a ball at Davis's rooms, where I saw the waltz 
danced more gracefully by the Creoles than in any part of the world — London 
Paris, and New York not excepted. 

During the evening Gov. Houston said to me, " Colonel, there is another ball 
at this time in this building which will interest you ; will you go to it ? " I went 
with him. It was a Quadroon ball. There was an amphitheatre of seats where 
the black wenches sat, while the girls who were brought there for sale, and 
others, danced with white men. They were very well dressed. They were 
genei-ally under-sized, but well-formed and graceful. While looking on at this 
novel and disgusting scene, and listening to Houston's explanations, a gentle- 
man saluted me, whom I recognised as Mr. Allain. After talking with him 
awhile, Houston called me away, and said, " Where did you make his acquaint- 
ance ? " " At Saratoga Springs," I answered, " when I was there with 
Grimes." " Come here," said he, " and I will show you his daughters," and 
be pointed out two Quadroons. 

Houston explained that these girls were purchased by the planters for about 
$5,000, a large part of which was invested in a house and furniture and con- 
veyed to the slave-mistress. Coming down to New Orleans, on Sunday 
evening, we stopped at all the landings, where large numbers of well-dressed 
men came on board. I asked one of the gentlemen of the committee what 
this meant. " They are going to the opera," he said, "and then they go to the 
houses of their Quadroon girls, where they breakfast, dining at the St. Charles 
Hotel." I was informed that this was the accustomed arrangement for the 
married and single men; and that by the laws of Louisiana, unless the act of 
adultery was committed in the domicil of the husband, there could be no divorce. 
Along the coast, near New Orleans, a part of the river is called " The Yellow 
Bend." This part of the country was inhabited by the offspring of white men, — 
a marriage between the white and colored races being invalid. The whites of 
property purchased land along the coast, and conveyed it to their children. At 
one of the places where we stopped to wood, a black woman came down with 
slaves to put the wood on board ; and there came a well-dressed colored man 
on the steamer to go as a passenger to New Orleans. 

He told me he was from St. Domingo, where he was educated ; that he was 
employed on that j^huitation to teach the children of the owner, who was an 
Octoroon man ; and at other plantations in the neighborhood. He said there 
were several families of the colored race there with their slaves, who were well 
off, owning lands. This man, respectable in ajjpearance and manners, and well 
educated, was not permitted to go into the cabin. 

After a most interesting visit of a few days, T took leave of my friends, left 
New Orleans in a sail-vessel for Mobile, where I passed three or four days 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 73 

ao-reeably and usefully; and from thence went up the Alabama River in a 
steamer to Montgomery. My companion on this journey was Mr. Corbin, a 
very worthy gentleman, from Virginia. 

At Montgomery we ascertained that the stage for the North, in which there 
were two or three of my friends, on their way to New York, had left in the 
morning, and that another stage would not leave for the North in two days. 
Anxious to overtake that stage, we engaged a wagon to take us to the stage- 
house before the stage should start in the morning. While at dinner, a United 
States Agent for the Creek Indians, learning who we were, and that we were 
going on that night, presented himself to us, and urged us to remain over and 
hunt with him. " The Indians," he said, "were very much excited just now, 
in consequence of one of the tribe having been wantonly murdered. A boy 
and a negro, deer-hunting in the forest, saw an Indian walking along at some 
distance. The negro said to the boy, ' Try if you can hit him.' He did so, 
and killed the Indian." Anxious to overtake our companions, we persisted in 
going on, under the belief that as we were travelling during a dark and drizzling 
night, the Indians would not be abroad. The agent said, " Gentlemen, as you 
persist in going on, which I think is quite dangerous, if you meet any Indians, 
when you are accosted, say that you are the friends of John Bascomb." We 
went on our way in an open wagon, two horses and a driver, who was well 
acquainted with the road and country. 

I must here state that Gen. Jackson related many incidents connected with 
the Creek war, and among other persons of whom he spoke in the highest terms, 
was a Captain Walker, who had married a squaw and lived at Fort Hull in the 
Creek country. As we went on our way, at midnight, in the forest, one of our 
horses gave out. We got out to assist the driver to overcome the difficulty, but 
in vain. I asked him how far we were from the tavern to which we were going. 
He said fifteen miles. I asked if there were any houses near. He replied, 
that Fort Hull was off the road about three miles, pointing in the direction. 
He put us on the track, and went back to remain with his horses, while we de- 
cided to go there for assistance. Mr. Corbin and I had not proceeded over a 
mile in the dense forest, when we saw the light of a fire, which was rather cheer- 
ing. We advanced towards it, and then saw a large number of Indians lying 
with their feet to the fire, encircling it. They were evidently asleep. We 
halted. The question between us was whether to retreat or go on. Believing 
that they would quickly hear our footsteps if we retreated, and fearing that 
we might be pursued and injured, we decided to go up to them. Proceeding a 
few steps, which we took firmly, one of them leaped up with a shout, which 
brought the others to their feet, and their weapons to their hands. After a 
word between them, one advanced and addressed us. I replied, " Friends of 
John Bascomb." The Indian cried out, " friends of John Bascomb, what do 
you want?" "To go to Fort Hull, Capt. Walker." This was repeated, and 
after a talk among them in their own language, a negro was sent to talk with us. 



74 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

We informed him that we were travellers going to the North — that we saw the 
agent at Montgomery — that our horses were on the road, having given out, and 
now we wanted to go to the Fort. This was rej^eated to the Indians. A lead- 
ing man came forward and asked us to come to the fire; and shortly, a black 
boy was ordered to light a pine-knot and guide us to the Fort. We thanked 
them for their kindness, and went our way. The boy took us in an air-line to 
the Fort, where we found the drawbridge was raised. The dogs barked 
furiously, the Captain was awakened, and when he asked who we were, I replied, 
"Travellers, friends of Gen. Jackson." The way was opened directly, and Capt. 
Walker introduced us to his wigwam, the Fort. His spouse, who was a squaw, 
was asked to get us coffee, which was done ; and upon learning our difficulties, a 
horse was sent to where our wagon was, guided by the Indian messenger, who 
went back rejoicing at his night's work, and in due time our wagoner drove 
up, leading his wearied horses. We supped ; fought over some of the battles 
of the Creek war ; gave the Captain full information of the General's move- 
ments, intimating that he might be elected President, at which Walker greatly 
rejoiced. When ready to depart, I was prepared to pay for the services he had 
rendered us, but he said, " No, Colonel, I am too happy to have rendered this 
slight service to a friend of Gen. Jackson, my glorious commander." We 
drove to the tavern ; arrived there before it was light ; were compelled to sleep 
on the floor of the bar-room on our cloaks, with our carpet-bags for pillows; 
because the landlord, when we knocked at the inner door, so directed us. In 
the morning he informed us that from the unsettled condition of the Indians he 
could not let any person within whom he did not know, after nightfall. He had 
married an Indian woman. We understood that white men were very ready to 
take the daughters of the chiefs to wife, because they got with them lands and 
slaves. Tlie head men of the barbarous as well as of the more civilized com- 
munities, always have the opportunity to take the " lion's share." 

In the morning we drove on with the stage and our companions, without any 
incident worthy of remark until we reached Virginia. lu the course of one 
night, the stage stopped at a negro cabin ; an old negro, with a light, brought 
a young one to the stage (the latter in tears), and put him outside on the seat 
with the driver ; a white man at the same time took a seat inside, putting under 
his feet, irons which attracted our attention. Upon inquiry, he informed us they 
were handcufis ; that he was taking the boy to be sold. When we next stopped, 
we examined the boy, and found him in great distress, from being separated 
from his parents. We conferred together, and decided that the white miscreant 
should not ride in the stage with us, and told him so ; consequently, as there was 
no room for him on the outside, he took the boy, his irons, and himself off, to ob- 
tain another conveyance. 
/y At Savannah, on the 29th of January, 1828, I addressed a letter to his 

/•.Excellency John Forsyth, Governor of Georgia, which will be given hereafter. 

« That letter led to circumstances of the gravest importance to the most dis- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A HAMILTON. 75 

tiuguislied officers of our goverument at the time, and to imputations upon my 
conduct of a serious character, which, as will be proved, and which I now declare 
in the most solemn manner, with a due sense of all my responsibilities in doing 
so, W3re not only wholly groundless, but were made without any evidence what- 
ever. I may add, as I do, after a careful retrospect of my long life, that this 
was the only occasion on which I have been charged or suspected of having 
been engaged in " artful opei-ations," "political manoeuvres,"' " a base political 
intrigue," or any dishonorable or dishonest conduct; and I here invite the most 
rigid scrutiny of all the facts and circumstances to which I shall refer, to prove 
the whole truth. 

Shortly after my return to New York, I addressed a letter to the General, 
to which I received the following reply, dated February 17, 1828 : 

"It is truly gratifying to me to learn that your journey, in the pleasurable inci- 
dents it aiforded, repaid in some degree the solicitude and anxiety natural to so long 
an absence from those most dear to us. * * * j jj^,^ intelligence of 

the death of your chief magistrate. Governor Clinton, a few days before the receipt 
of your kind letter. I sincerely deplore it. His expanded views ; his devoted atten- 
tion to the interests of the country, entitle him to a distinguished place in the aflec- 
tions of the people ; and I rejoice to hear that all parties will unite in the^^acknowl- 
edgmeut of his merits. New York here, too, sets an example worthy of imitation, 
worthy of her great res >urces and of their distinguished patron. 

"Mrs. Jackson continues in good health, and unites with me in the reciprocation 
of those kind feelings which you have been pleased to cherish in our behalf. 

"Believe me, my dear sir, your sincere friend, with every sentiment of respect, 

"Andeew Jackson." 

The following letters are given to show the impression General Jackson 
made upon me at my first acquaintance. The first, to Mr. Warner, was written 
at the request of Mr. Van Buren. 

To Matthew Waenee, Lima, New Yoek: 

" New York, September 15, 1828. 
"Sir: Your letter of the 4th inst., seeking information as to the character of 
Gen. Jackson, has been transmitted to me by your friend, with a request that I would 
reply to it. Tliis reference was probably judged expedient from my having been re- 
cently at Nashville, and for some days a visitor in General Jackson's house and 
neighborhood, and thus drawn into that close acquaintance with him which belongs 
to such a situation, as well as from my iiaving been a fellow passenger with him in a 
steamboat to New Orleans, and enjoyed that intimacy which ordinarily results from 
a voyage of some duration. 

" You observe 'that much has been said against General Jackson's moral charac- 
ter ;' that as you feel interested in his favor, you wish information on this jioint ; and 
that you are told by some of your fi'iends, that he is a good moral and pious man, 
and attends divine worsliip in a Christian church. 

" I found the General, when I visited him, living upon and cultivating an extensive 
and valuable farm, from which he derives his chief support. His house is a large. 



76 llEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

plaia building, and so arranged as to accommodate many visitors at the same time ; 
%yhicli is necessary, or at least convenient for Lim, because it is the resting-place of 
all persons, rich or poor, who travel in that direction ; and where all are received 
with cordiality and treated with sncli unaflected kindness and hospitality, as makes 
every one who participates in tliis generous conduct his personal friend — which has 
happened to several who came there with strong prejudices against him. 

" He is a sincere believer in the Christian religion, and performs his devotions 
regularly with his family in his own house, and in a Presbyterian church in his 
neighborliood, of which his most wortliy and benevolent but much slandered wife 
(they have no children) is a member in full connnunion. 

"From all I learned of his private life in his neighborhood, Avhere he is best 
known, I believe he is a just and upright num, and scr uniformly correct in all his 
dealings with his fellow-men, as to induce them to select liim more than any other 
man in all that part of tlie country as the arbiter of their differences, the executor 
of their estates, the guardian of their children. 

"In confirmation of that opinion it may bo remarked, that in this fierce contro- 
versy, marked by malignant slanders, in wliich no condition or relation of life has 
been held sacred, General Jackson has never been charged with a want of liberality 
or integrity in his dealings, punctuality in his contracts, or fidelity to his promise, 
even to his own hurt. His habits are temperate, his manners easy, frank, engaging, 
and his conversation is marked by that easy, unafl:ected behavior to all, that intimate 
knowledge of mankind, tb.at vigor of intellect and promptitude w^hicli have hereto- 
fore carried him so successfully through the diflerent situations of perplexity and 
peril in which he has been placed when in the service of his country. 

"As your inquiries are confined to the General's private life, I forbear to touch 
upon any subject of a public nature. 

" Wiih great respect, 

"I am your obedient servant, 

" James A. Hamilton." 



The following letter was written on the 3d July, 1828, to Timothy Picker- 
ing, one of the first men of our country. I knew him well ; he passed some 
time as my guest in New York, and, I am proud to say, I enjoyed his confidence. 

"Deae Sir : Your favor of the 3d ultimo is received. * * * You ask me for 
my opinion of Jackson's talents and manners. The last are of the most amiable, 
polished, and winning character. His intercourse has been much greater with men 
than with books. He therefore w^ell knows how to adapt his deportment to the 
character and condition of the dilferent classes with whom he meets. He possesses 
an independent spirit, and great confidence in his own jjowers; is therefore not em- 
barrassed under any circumstances in which he may be placed. I saw him with the 
multitude at New Orleans; and going down the river I saw him greeted and ad- 
dressed without previous notice by committees and individuals in set speeches; he 
was always at ease and prepared to reply in an appropriate and complimentary man- 
ner. He has a sound and vigorous intellect, uncommon promptitude aud decision. 
Indeed, that quality which is called out by peculiar circumstances, or by an efli'ort, on 
the part of most other men, has by the course of his life become habitual with him. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 77 

The "whole powers of his mind are more at his command than are those of any otlier 
man I ever met with. He is frank, and, I have no doubt, perfectly direct and 
upriglit. 

"I took occasion during my intercourse with him, which was rather intimate 
than otherwise, to touch upon Gen. Washington's mode of doing business with the 
members of his Cabinet. He listened with marked attention ; made many pertinent 
inquiries, and after the subject was exhausted, said, ' I have accustomed myself to 
receive with respect the opinions of others, but always take the responsibility of de- 
ciding for myself and acting upon my own opinion, if I think it most correct. That 
I believe to be not only the wisest but the safest course ; if I err, the blame thus 
attaches to him to whom it belongs.' 

"I have no doubt with such a Cabinet as he may select, our affairs will be safely 
and wisely, and I am sure they will be honestly and impartially, administered. He 
is industrious, and accustomed to look into the details of all departments, Avithout 
attempting to conduct them. 

"I have only time for this hasty sketch. You may make what use of it you 
please. I am gratified to see you are before the public on this subject. 

" Yours most truly, J. A. H." 

Martin Van Buken to Me. Coleman. 

" "WAsniXGTON, April 4, 1828. 
" Mr. Van Buren takes pleasure in presenting Mr. Coleman (for whose judgment 
he has much i-espect) with a copy of some observations recently made in the Senate 
of the United States. Mr. Van Buren is aware of the extent to which his views will 
clash with preconceived opinions on the part of Mr. C, but he is nevertheless confi- 
dent that they will be considered with liberality. If Mr. C. could, for ever so short 
a period, have a i)eep behind the curtains, he Avould be made sensible that the only 
chance for the perpetuity of existing institutions depends upon the preserved vigor 
and constant watchfulness of the State Governments ; that from the proneness on 
the part of agents so far removed from the people to corruption and other causes, 
there is not at this moment sufficient honesty in the administration of this Govern- 
ment to keep decent men in countenance; and that we are indebted for the little 
that remains to constant apprehension of rebuke and resistance from the States. A 
hotter opportunity could not arise, than that presented by the abuses of this Admin- 
istration for those who have so long been under the ban of public opinion to cut 
loose from sentiments which have fallen so far behind the march of events, and are 
now, or are likely to be, so discordant with the temper of the tiines. If proof is still 
wanting of the fallacy of the once prevalent error that the danger to the scheme 
consisted in the weakness of the head and strength of the members, take the striking 
fact that the present Chief Justice of the proudest and largest State in the Confed- 
eracy is at this moment a candidate for a subordinate place in the Treasury Depart- 
ment of this Government ; a place to which clerks conceive themselves to be entitled 
in succession, and to which none but third-rate men here would aspire." 

The followuig letters ai-e published as .a part of the material : 
Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" April 7, 1828. 
f "My Dear Sir: I yesterday requested you to get Mr. Coleman to show you a 
note I sent him with my observations. Since that I have seen a letter from him to 



78 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Mr. Cambreleng, from which it appears that he has very mistaken views upon the 
subject of tlie choice of electors. I have drafted a letter for Mr. Cambreleng, to 
write to him upon that subject. Seo both, and at the same time suggest to him the 
propriety of not mentioning the circumstance of either note, as their adversary 
would make a great handle of the matter if they knew it. Ilis good sense will 
have suggested that, however, before you see him. Old prejudices cannot be trifled 
with. You will see Gales' last weak attempt to excita jealousy in our ranks this 
morning. Your friend, &c. " 

Martix Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, May 21, 1828. 

"My Dear Sir: I will satisfy you when I see you that I have not said, or 
done, or contemplated any thing upon the subject of the nomination for Governor 
that you will not approve. I have given to Col. Benton's friend, Mr. Magines, 
from St. Lonis, a letter to yon. lie is, I believe, a warm-hearted Irish lawyer. I 
wish you would make him at his ease. The belief here is that we will to-day or 
to-morrow have the following nominations : Barbour to England ; P. R. Porter, 
Secretary of War ; Harrison to Columbia, and Robinson from Kentucky, to Mexico, 
in the place of Poinsett, to resign. The i)]an for the campaign is, that Savage is 
to be run for Governor, and Granger for Lieut. Governor of New York. Clay is 
to go to Kentucky, and make a desperate push to carry Metcalf's election, and if 
they fail in that, they are to give up the ghost. All this, I believe, may be confi- 
dently relied upon ; but don't get me in the papers. I fir,>t thought that the project 
of qualifying Savage for candidateship, by the appointment of Treasurer, was too 
preposterous to have received the sanction of the people here — deranged and des- 
perate as they are. But it is no longer to be doubted that such is the plan. If New- 
York is not recreant to every honorable sentiment, we will make them rue the day 
that this profligate scheme was conceived. 

" Yours truly, &c. " 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"Albany, August 25, 1828. 

" My Dear Sir : I returned on Thursday from my Western excursion. It has 
been very pleasant, and I hope, politically speaking, has been equally profitable. 
We shall beat them greatly. The anti-masonic affiiir is the only thing that requires 
looking to. Beg Noah and Coleman to treat the matter cautiously. I have written 
to the former upon the point. The excitement has been vastly greater than I sup- 
posed, but has assumed a much milder aspect. Were it not for the pledges given 
not to vote for a mason, and the opprobrium of reproaches from their brethren, 
most of the anti-masonites who would otherwise have been with us, would be now, 
as matters stand, the friends of the administration ; and as much troubled with the 
subject as we are. You can have no idea how much the reputation of the Evening 
Post has improved in the country. It is now generally admitted to be one of the 
ablest papers in the Union. Let me entreat you to give your undivided attention 
to the subject of funds. You must absolutely do more in New York, than you 
promised. Our friends hero (at best but poor), will break down. This county alone 
will be a most oppressive struggle. The Patroon has been induced, by those who 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 79 

influence him to his prejudice, to consent to run for Congress, and our friends are 
determined to beat liim. I am entirely satisfied that he cannot save the electond 
vote for them. "We should not suffer the enemy to retain his ammunition after he 
has been routed. Will not the result of the Kentucky election induce them to bet? 
Between us and the 2'ost, make this bet for me, or on our joint account, as you 
please, viz.: $500 that Thompson will be defeated, whoever our candidate may 
be, and $100 on every thousand of a majority up to 5,000 ; or, if you can't do bet- 
ter, say $500 on the i-esult, and $50 on every thousand up to ten thousand. My 
visit through the "Western Country was very gratifying. At every place where T 
stopped for ever so short a period, I found myself in a few moments surrounded 
by crowds of cheerful countenances and stout hearts. Let Noah republish the bet. 
He mangles it as if he was shy of the question of a majority in the State. 

" Very sincerely, your friend, &c. 

"P. S. I have received yours since writing the above. Your views as to the 
delegates are correct. It would be hazarding too much to make out a list as you 
suggest. I shall go to Lebanon Springs on Friday, and remain there a day or two ; 
after that, will be generally home. Don't you want to go there and shake off the 
theatre dust? Don't forget to bet all you can." 

Maetin Van Buken to James A. Hamilton. 

"Albany, September 6, 1828. 
"My Dear Feiend : I hope sincerely that this will find you quite recovered. 
"Write an answer to the enclosed, in your best style. Say that I have sent his letter 
to you, and have requested you to answer it. Shape it so that you would not be 
displeased to see it in print, for such things will happen, although it probably will 
not in this case ; and by all means get some one to do me the favor to copy it, so 
that it may be read, which will not otherwise be practicable. Let me hear from 
you soon. Bet on Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois — jointly if you can, or any two 
of them. 

" Yours, cordially." 

Martin Van Bitren to James A. Hamilton. 

"September 16, 1828. 
" My Dear Sir : The letter is excellent without the last sentence, but that, as my 
name is mentioned in it, may give occasion for ill-natured criticism. Send it to me 
again as soon as you can, as I want to transmit it without delay. I think it would 
be better to leave out my name altogether, and say, " Your letter, seeking informa- 
tion as to the character of General Jackson, has been transmitted to me by your 
friend, with a request that I would reply to it." This reference was probably 
judged expedient and proper from, etc. ; and stilll eave out the last sentence, as it is 
political, etc. Yours, truly. 

" P. S, Does the old gentleman have prayers in his own house ? If so, mention 
it modestly. " 

James A. Hamilton to Captain Wright, Loxdon. 

"New York, November 2, 1828. 
"My Dear Sir: My absence from this city, with my engagements of a public 



80 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

and private nature, have prevented me from acknowledging the receipt of your let- 
ter of the 9th ultimo, from London. I assure you it afforded us all veiy great satis- 
faction to receive, so directly, an account of all the members of my father's family. 
Your brother Robert, who I well recollect, will probably have forgotten me. I 
hojic he enjoys good health, and should be pleased if you would make my respects 
to him. 

" We are all zealous-ly engaged in the election for the President of the United 
States, which commences in this State to-morrow and in all the other States about 
the same time. The election is very much contested, and Avill result iu the choice of 
General Jackson. To uj, who are accustomed to universal sufirage, it is an ordinary 
matter ; but to you and to most if not all others on your side of the water it must 
be a subject of curious and pleasing reflection to see a whole people, amount- 
ing to about twelve millions of souls, earnestly engaged in making choice by 
their immediate votes of their Chief Magistrate, without tumult, uninfluenced by a 
privileged order of any kind either in Church or State, and without corruption. It 
is true tliat the patronage of our simple, economical, but excellent Government (not 
so great as that of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, or to be compared with that of 
your India Company), has been exercised by our Premier in order to sustain the 
present President, and the scrutiny of the characters and conduct through life of 
both the candidates has been conducted without reserve, nay, even with a licentious 
freedom. But pardon me. I have forgotten that, surrounded by the pleasures and 
engagements of the Metropolis of the "World, you will hardly have given the slight- 
est attention to the events which engross us wholly ; and I am happy to add that at 
or about this time next year I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you in London, 
and of giving you in exchange for much useful information in regard to your own 
countr}", as much as you may desire in regard to this. I am making my arrange 
ments to sail with my wife and children in July or August next, for France; thence 
to visit England, Scotland, and the Continent. 

" Do me the favor to remember me to the Laird of Grange when you have occa- 
sion to write to him, and to any other members of our family. 

"With very great regard, your friend and servant, &c." 

Martin Van Bueen to James A. Hamilton. 

"Albany, December 17, 1828. 
"MyDearSik: I have received your letter, and have done as you advised in 
regard to my unknown correspondent. It never occurred to me until yesterday, 
whilst riding out on horseback (for we have delightful weatlier here), that it might 
be agreeable to you to obtain your father's title of ' Colonel Hamilton ' through an 
appoiutment as aid to his Excellency.* If so, you have, of coui'se, only to intimate 
it. I will associate you with two respectable men here, and you will incur no ex- 
pense or trouble of any kind, not for the present at least. I would not write to 
Lewis. Let them worry and fret and intrigue at Washington. Six weeks hence 
they will find themselves as wise as they were when they began. If our friend Jack- 
son wants admonishing and advising upon the point, it would in the end be better 
for me that he had erred in the beginning. If ho should come to Philadelphia, it 

* I declined. See the following letter. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 81 

miglit be your duty to pay your respects to him, considering the kind feelings he 
undoubtedly entertains for you. 

" Yours truly, etc." 

James A. Hamilton to Governor Martin Van Buren. 

" New York, December 20, 1828. 
" My Dear Sir : I received your letter and disposed of the one enclosed as you 
directed. Your offer to appoint me one of your aids, I consider a very flattering 
mnrk of your attention, and as such, I thank you for it with all my heart ; but I 
cannot allow you, my dear friend, from your disposition to gratify me, so to use this 
honor which may and ought to be disposed of with much advantage to yourself. 
You must select a gentleman in this city who is the focus of a large cii'cle of friends, 
all of whom will be devoted to you, by this honor conferred upon him. From these 
circumstances I have determined not to accept your offer, unless by doing so you 
can receive the same advantage, which is impossible from the relation all connected 
with me stand in towards you. After your letter was received, I turned the matter 
in my mind, and have hit upon the son of Brockholst Livingston as a person unit- 
ing the advantage of talents and knowledge (as I am told, for I do not know him^, 
with a large fortune. He is a single man, and has just returned from abroad. His 
father, Brockholst Livingston, was a distinguished republican in the great struggle, 
and his grandfather. Governor Livingston, was a decided Whig, and patriot of the 
Revolution. I know what you will say as to the name. By this selection, you 
would thus gratify them all together, with the Ludlows, the Carrolls, Bogerts, 
several Easton families, who are on terms of great intimacy with his sister (a very 
clever and talking woman), Mrs. Ledyard — the McVickars, Jays, and Constables, 
with very many young men, who are pleased with him and his manner of living. 
If you think well of this, I will take care that an application should be made to you 
for the place. I need not say to you, ray dear sir, that in all these matters such a 
course must be pursued, as a prudent regard to your interests may dictate ; and 
under this feeling alone, I act on this occasion. 

"Yours, etc." 



■=} 



Martin Van Bdren to James A, Hamilton. 

"Albany, December 28, 1828. 
"My Dear Sir: I have been so deeply employed in my message, «fec., that I 
have not had time to thank you for the feelings manifested in your last. There is a 
good deal in your suggestion as to the persons who would be gratified by the 
appointment of Mr. Livingston. But I know those folks well. They are a sort of 
friends of which you may have any quantity, when you don't want them ; but apt 
to be very scarce under different circumstances. It would give me more pleasure to 
learn that any act of mine had been satisfactory to the few individuals of the old 
Federal party, who have not been so far corrupted by its modern degeneracy as to 
forget the genuine talents and chivalry of your father, than to receive the thanks of 
the whole tribe of which you speak. I should, moreover, have difficulties in pre- 
ferring one who had not applied to several in the city, who have been very pressing, 
unless it was in your case. I hope, therefore, you will, upon re-consideration, allow 
6 



82 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

me the pleasure of adopting you, as tlie saying is, into my military family.* If, 

however, there are objections of any sort occurring to you, you will do me the favor 

to be candid in stating them. 

" Yours, very truly, &c." 



-■o 



BANKS AND BANKING. 

James A. Hamilton to Governor Van Buren. 

"My Dear Sir: By conversation with intelligent and well-informed persons on 
this particular subject, and by extensive reading, I have become so imbued with 
some of the leading principles which I believe ought to govern the Legislature in 
deciding upon the serious question as to the renewal of the charters of the banks of 
the State, that I cannot forbear writing to you on the subject, even in a hasty and 
negligent manner, owing, in some measure, to my want of leisure. The two great 
points to be considered are, first, a due regard to the stability of the currency of the 
country; and, second, the security of the depositors and holders of the notes of 
the banks. Contrary to first, and most usual impressions, I consider the first, really 
the most important question of tlie two, and therefore give it the first rank. Tlie 
evils to the community, great as they are, resulting from the failure of banks, are 
immeasurably less than the semi-annual panics to Avhich we are exposed by what is 
called a pressure for money, and Avhich- always results from over issues, consequently, 
over trading and endless individual bankruptcy. 

" It is as erroneous as it is common, to say that the commercial difficulties in 
England in 1825 and in this country in 1819 and 1826, and the approaching com- 
mercial difficulties, are the legitimate results of speculation. This is certainly not 
so. The truth is, tliat such a spirit is the consequence of a too great facility of 
borrowing money, induced on the part of the banks by a desire to make large profits ; 
and this results in an excessive issue of their notes and credits. The mischief of this 
error is not confined to lenders only, but it embraces all classes of the community. 
It makes the consumer buy at high prices ; it leads to extravagance, and it depreci- 
ates the value of the means of all who live upon fixed incomes, while the failures 
must necessarily produce great and extended individual distress ; it also diminishes 
the ability of the banks (as they cannot escape amid the extended ruin unharmed) 
to pay their public creditors, and thus, in a great measure, to impair the security of 
depositors and note holders. If I am correct in these views, the first question on 
the subject of the banks is— Can the Legislature, by special enactments, prevent 
these excessive issues, and thus aid in maintaining the stability of the local cur- 
rency ? I believe they cannot ; but I do believe that if incorporations are granted 
upon correct principles, that it will produce this eft'ect. You might as well endeavor 
to restrain the exportation of the precious metals of the country, as, by special 
provisions, endeavor to prevent the banks from issuing more notes than the fair 
commerce of the coiintry requires. No ! The only way to arrive at th.at great 
desideratum is, first^ to compel the banks to do what it was originally intended they 
should do, as Mr. Bronson expresses it — 'Furnish a medium of trade, and not 

* lagain declined this offer most courteously. Notwithstandiug this, he appomted me, as 
he informed me, in order to get rid of the importunities of Mr. J. L. G., of New York. He 
sent me a commission, I did not accept the place. I was Brigade Inspector during the 
latter part of the war of 1812, and thus entitled to the rank of Major. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 83 

capital.,'' that is, discount paper which originates in business transactions and not 
paper in order to originate business ; which may be cnlled accommodation- paper. 
The former is intended to be, and would, under a proper system, be paid when it 
became due. The latter is, on the contrary, intended to be a long or permanent 
loan, and is used as capital ; whereas the other facilitates the repayment of capital 
already acquii-ed and invested in purchases. And, second, to require them so to 
place their capital that it cannot be loaned, and consequently having nothing but 
credit to bank upon, they will be subjected to some of those never varying laws of 
currency, and thus be unable, without certain ruin, to go beyond a proper limit. I 
have before stated that I was in fiivor of a State Banl<, by which I mean, granting 
new, in preference to re-incorporated banks, because the latter have run into habits 
that are vicious, and wholly foreign to tvue j^rinciples ; and that it would be easier 
to commence a new system correctly, than to amend an old one, as it is easier, (I 
may be permitted, in writing to my Conimandei"-in-Chief, to make a military refer- 
ence,) to make a soldier of a raw recruit because he has only to learn his new duty, 
than it is to make one out of a militia-man, who has not only to learn what is 
correct, but to unlearn what is erroneous in his duty. But this is by no means an 
important question — whether new banks are formed or old ones renewed. The two 
great points to which I have referred must be guarded ; and I think this will be 
done elfectually by a plan Bronson has submitted to me, together with the plan you 
have referred to. 

" The capital ought, before the Bank can commence its operations, to be invested 
in the United States or State Stocks — and these securities ought to be placed beyond 
the control of the bank ; that they may be a fund in reserve, and never to be used or 
to be available for any banking operation ; and the amount of the notes to be issued 
never to exceed the amount of this fund : and, as a mean of preventing any excess, 
let it be provided that after the bank shall have given security for its notes, they 
shall be countersigned and stamped by the proper ofhcer or commissioner within 
whose control the stock is placed. (If it is objected that these securities ought not 
to be entrusted to any individual, the answer is, that there can be no difficulty in 
transferring and assigning them in such a special manner to the Register and Assis- 
tant Register, if you please, of the Court of Chancery, as would make the cooperation 
or the order of the bank necessary to the assignment.) By this provision the capital 
of the bank would be secured to the public as a fund to be applied in payment of the 
notes in circulation, and these could not at any time exceed the amount thereof. It 
would also be incapable of being loaned to dealers, and consequently not liable to be 
lost ; but above all the bank would thus be compelled to loan its credits, resulting 
from its deposits, and bills receivable, and the~e sources only — the necessary con- 
sequence of which is that the loans must be for short periods, in order that the 
stream which flows out, may be regularly and equally supplied by that which flows 
ill ; if this is not so, the efHux would soon cease— consequently, if the operations of 
the banks are confined to business paper as it is called, which is made up of tbese 
notes at short periods that have been taken for goods sold, and which are expected 
to be paid out of the re-sale of the same goods to other dealers or consumers ; tliere 
will be no greater amount of notes offered, than is required for permanent and suc- 
cessful commercial purposes. Or if the banks, being unable to loan their capital, 
should stretch their credit too far, or in other words make it too cheap, they would 
necessarily impair it ; and by the invariable course of raising the price of goods, every 



84 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

tyro ia the business well knows that tlie reaction would be ruinous : wliereas, if in 
addition to their credit as is now the case, thej could loan their capital, they can 
encourage over trading not without some, but certainly with less risk than the plan 
proposed. If instead of confining their issues to the paper which had originated in 
business transactions, they should then, as tliey now do, stimulate speculation by 
lending capital — an inevitable consequence would be that the notes would be depre- 
ciated, and consequently (without going through the whole process) specie would be 
called for which they could not pay, inasmuch as their capital does not consist in 
any pai-t of it. It is unnecessary for me to go further into the reasoning on the 
subject. It is as demonstrable that excessive issues would be thus checked at least, 
as it is clear that while the stock remained invested, the notes of the bank could all 
be paid. 

"In addition to this provision, which would tend to preserve the stability of the 
currency and to secure the pnyment of the notes of the bank, 1 would superadd a 
Provision — 

" 2dly, That a commissioner should be appointed by elestors chosen by the banks, 
an elector to every $400,000 of stock, and one to each bank whose ca[)ital should be 
less than that amount ; whose duty it should be to require for each bank I of one per 
cent, on its capital to form a fund to be invested as before, in order to make good 
any deficiency, should any arise, after applying all the credits of tlie bank and all its 
stock to the amount of its deposits and notes ; and further to require from each bank 
a monthly return of its notes in circulation. Such commissioner or supervisor to 
keep a vigilant eye to the state of the exchanges; of the exports, and imports of the 
country ; and to tlie general ranges of the prices of commodities, and to notify to the 
banks any indication of an over-issue of paper — such commissioner or supervisor 
not to have any interest or concern directly or indirectly in trade or commerce of 
any kind— to hold his office during tlie pleasure of the banks, and to be paid his 
■salary out of the income arising from the contributed fui;d, and the residue of such 
income to be paid over punctually to the contributors in ]Droportion to their respec- 
tive interests therein. 

" PrIXCIPLES deemed INDI8PEXSABI.E IS A REFORMED SYSTEM OF BANKIS^G. 

•"1st. The aggregate amount of bank credit which can be sustained in circulation 
without depreciation, whether i-sued from one bank or one thousand banks, can 
never exceed tlie amount of the circulating medium which the laws of commerce 
:assign to the country; or more than there would be in gold and silver if there were 
no banks; although that amount will be difi:erent at difl;erent times, since it must be 
regulated by the exigencies of the country, and the state of its exchange with other 
countries. 

" 2d. A banker who employs capital, will be enabled to lend more money than 
one who employs none; but not more credit, therefore he derives no profit on his 
"Capital, for in this, as in all other concerns, the interest on the capital is to be charged 
in the profit and loss account, and as the banker can receive no greater interest 
where he loans it than he charges for its use, it is evident he must be a loser on that 
operatiin, as the expenses and losses attending the loan of capital, must be deducted 
from the profits he makes on the use of his credit ; and that credit he can circulate 
as extensively if his capital is vested in stock or bonds and mortgages, as he could do 
if he employed his capital in the same manner as he does his credit. Besides, if the 
•capital is kept in a condition to be at all times available in the current business of 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 85 

the banker, large portions of it must be occasionally unemployed, and of course un- 
productive, and when that is the case, lie is tempted to lend it ou doubtful security, 
rather than let it remain idle. 

" 3c], Tliere need be no other funds employed in banking operations than those 
created by bank credit, the aggregate amount of which, as before stated, ought never 
to exceed the amount required for a circulating medium ; and this supply should be 
steady and uniform, that is, always in proportion to the natural requirements of 
commerce, and that amount will be indicated by those immutable laws, which alike 
regulate both commerce and currency ; and which so limit the quantity independently 
of legislative injunctions, that banks conducted on this principle, can never force 
any considerable excess into circulation, without producing a reaction whicb would 
soon exhaust their specie and check their issues, before that excess could materially 
enhance the exchangeable value of commodities. 

"4th. The legitimate business of bankers, strictly speaking, is the employment of 
the funds produced by their credit in discounting notes and bills of exchange which 
have been created in the course of business, and which have but a short time to 
run. It requires no capital to discount all paper of this description, as the payment 
of every note furnishes funds to discount others of equal amount. 

"5th. The fluctuations in the price of commodities, when excessive, are generally 
owing, not to a demand for consumption, but to the effect produced by one speculator 
bidding upon another which creates an artificial price, and its deviation from that 
which is natural (depending on supply and demand for consumption) is in proportion 
to the amount of capital which banks can furnish for such objects, and when a reac- 
tion ensues, as it always does wlien loans are excessive, those who were bidding 
upon each other when the banks were extending, are now compelled, by underbidding 
each other, to reconvert their commodities into money at such reduced prices as to 
cause innumerable failures, which, if banks were restricted to credit only, would sel- 
dom happen. 

" 6th. No loans of capital are ao injui'ious in their consequences, as those temporary 
accommodation loans made by banks ; their first effect is, by creating a competition 
amongst buyers, to raise the exchangeable value of commodities too high for the 
foreign markets, and a consequent demand on the banks is produced, for specie to 
export in their place. The next is such a retrenchment of loans, and reduction of 
price, as will send commodities abroad and bring back money ; and those w'ho sup- 
posed themselves enriched by the rise of property, now find that they are impover- 
ished or ruined by its fall ; and all the property obtained from individuals, on the 
private credit of those who fail, passes into the hands of their endoi-sers, to secure 
the banks against any participation in the losses sustained by their debtors, and 
which losses their own operations have rendered inevitable. The possession of capital, 
and the necessity of employing it to make a dividend, sets all tlie banks simultane- 
ously striving to see who can lend the most money and make the greatest dividend; 
until the drafts for the coin for exportation create an alarm, the strife in curtailing 
becomes as great as it had been before in extending their loans ; those fluctuations, 
though not so regular, become quite as certain as the rise and fall of the tides, and 
are obviously the eftect of banking capital employed in loans of this pernicious 
character. 

" 7th. The monied capital of tlie country would be better employed to aid pro- 
duction, than in creating artificinl prices of the commodities produced. Loans of 



86 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

bank capital are easily obtained \Vliea they are not wanted, but not ensily repaid 
"wben tbey are, — as those who have ventured into deep speculations so uncertain, both 
in tlitir amount and duration, have too often experienced. 

" 8th. It is the medium of trade, and not tlie capital necessary for carrying it on, 
which it is the proper functions of the banks to furnish. When the reqnisife amount 
of bank notes have been issued from such medium, the diminution or increase of 
discounts can have but little influence upon its quantity, except for sliort periods. 
If the discounts increase, there must be a correspondent increase of payments, and 
vice versa, and botli may happen without having any sensible effect upon prices or 
upon the amount of money in circulation. Yet such an effect on both may be pro- 
duced to any desirable extent by withhdlding loans and requiring payments, or by 
lending more and requiring less. When, and to wliat extent the exerci-e of this 
power becomes necessary, every experienced banker will know by attending to the 
state of the foreign exchanges, and the operations of commerce; and tlie perfection 
of his skill consists in so conducting his business, as never to have occasion to exer- 
cise the power to correct an evil of his own creating. 

" If the foregoing propositions are true, — and it is believed that they are, — then it 
must be admitted that the employment of capital in banking operations adds nothing 
to the profit of the banker, while it has such an influence in raising a'ld depressing 
the value of commodities so much above and beloic their natural or exchangeable 
value, (by which is meant that value which the relation between the supply and the 
demand for consumption always imparts) as to occasion most of tlie faihires which 
occur amongst men in trade ; and which would seldom happen if the banking capital 
was safely and permanently vested in some productive funds, and the credit of the 
banks onl}'' employed in advancing in anticipation and in receiving at maturity the 
money for all goods made payable at short periods which may be offered at dis- 
count. Hence it follows that perfect security may be j^rovided against the failure 
of raonied corporations, without lessening their profits or their utility, by requiring 
their capital to be paid in full, and to bo permanently loaned on mortgaged security 
or vested in stock, prohibiting by proper penalties the employment of any part df it 
in banking operations, and limiting the issue of credit to the amount of capital ; by 
which simple process the object of all these complicated restrictions and penalties 
now provided by law, will be fully attained ; everything else may be safely left to 
the discretion of the directors, — the condition of their 'being will necessarily pre- 
scribe the nature and limits of their operations, secure better dividends to the stock- 
holders, and perfect security to the public, while any operations, if attempted, 
incompatible with the interest of the stockholders or thepw6?/c good, will be ren- 
dered powerless." 



CHAPTER V. 

FEOM JANUARY 1829— APRIL 1829. 

Election of General Jackson to the Presidency — Formation of tlie Cabinet— Extract 
from letters— Gov. Van Buren Secretary of State— James A. Hamilton Secretary 
pro tern. — Letters from Mr. Van Bureu to Major Eaton and to James A. Ham- 
ilton — The Evening Post and political affairs— The foreign appointments — Ap- 
plications for appointment to office — President Jackson's inaugural address — 
Memoranda on foreign affairs by Henry Clay — John Quincy Adams and Alex- 
ander Hamilton — Convention with Great Britain— Piracies — Depredations by 
inhabitants of New Brunswick — Treaty with Mexico — Social and political com- 
plications—Letters from Mr. Gallatin— Correspondence with William Coleman 
— The Minister to France — How Mr. Eives was a[)pointed — Excitement on 
removal. 

TuE election of General Jackson was an event in our country of vast im- 
portance, because it violated a course of public policy which received the 
sanction of the wisest men of the country of all parties, from the adoption of 
the Constitution. He was elected only because he had been a successful soldier, 
not having that familiar acquaintance with public affairs which can alone form 
a statesman ; whereas, during the previous Presidential terms (40 years), states- 
men had been elected and charged with the administration of our affairs. 
More than this, he was wholly uneducated and without talent ; his intentions 
were upright, his integrity unquestionable, his will unyielding, and his devotion 
to his friends so great as to induce him to use the patronage of his office to 
reward their services. The number of his removals were estimated by Parton 
at two thousand, and by another writer at sis thousand ; whereas, it has been 
ascertained that during the previous forty years, the removals did not exceed 
seventy-three. More than one half of those were made by Mr, Jeifersou, who 
said of officials, " few died and none resigned." 

The following extracts from letters addressed to me, prove that there was an 
ailxiety in regard to the course of the President in the formation of his Cabi- 
net, and otherwise, which required the presence in Washington at that period 
of a discreet friend. What reasons the authors of these letters had for assum- 
ing that the writer could influence or direct the chief in that important work, 
or any other in which the public interest was concerned, it is difficult to 
understand. 



88 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

C. C. CAMBRELiNa, House of Representatives, to James A. Hamilton. 

" January 2, 1829. 
"I have only a moment to ask you at what time vre shall expect you here. The 
Cabinet business has been going on here some time back." 

The Same to the Same. 

"January IT, 1829. 
"If I had the matter to arrange myself, as matters now stand, I would say: 
No. 1, New York ; No. 2, Lancaster ; No. 3, Delaware ; No. 4, Ohio; No. 5, Vir- 
ginia. The General will stay at Gadsby's. You had better order lodgings early. 

"Yours, &c." 

R. BuNNER TO Hamilton. 

"House of Eepkesentatiyes, January 14, 1829. 
" There is a little doubt in my mind that Van Buren can choose his position here, 
though nothing is certainly known. It seems to be conceded he may, and the Vice- 
President (Calhoun) is compelled to make Dutf Green publish the Magician as one of 
Mr. Calliouu's friends whom he wishes to bring into the Cabinet. Tazewell retires, 
I believe, on his credit, with White, and certainly I think he will stand agood chance 
of being called to aid the old General. I should like to see Louis McLane at the 
head of the Treasury. He is a true friend to Van Buren ; will sustain him and give 
him very salutary aid on many matters in which he is probably not familiar, &c. I 
will inquire about lodgings. Do you want accommodation for yourself or your 
family ? Let me know." 

BuNNER TO Hamilton. 

" January 21, 1829. 

"I will defer answering your letter until I have more maturely considered its 
contents. I presume you intend that I may consult McLane and Verplanck, without 
committing either you or any other person. I shall not, however, do even that 
until you license me so to do. Ingham, I think, from all I can hear is devoted 
to the Vice. Tazewell is mysterious, 

"It is understood here that the Vice is desirous of making Tazewell a constituent 
member. The Ohio man will be pushed by the "West and by the Vice, who relies 
upon him. * * * I think you ought to be here and secure a room with us. The 
old mess is at the old house, and by being in the house you may obtain information 
which you perhaps can get nowhere else, and in no other way. It would not be 
amiss if you should precede the General's arrival. I concur with you about the 
banks ; as a project, with the views you mention, it is unobjectionable." * * * 

BuNNER TO Hamilton. 

" January 22, 1829. 
" I have reflected on your last letter, and do not altogether concur in opinion with 
you. Our difference is merely that you think it necessary to provide for harmony 
by previous arrangement, while I think it must be done by subsequent manage- 
ment." * * * "Shall I take lodgings for you here? You ought to be in Wash- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 89 

ington before the 15tL. Much may be learned by you before the General's arrival. 
I tijiuk your presence indispensable." 

BuNNER TO Hamilton. 

"February 1, 1829. 
" !My Deae Hamilton : Contrary to all expectations. General Jackson -will be 
here on Sunday next. You ought to be here, neglecting all other business, as soon 
as possible. Everything that I can hear from Wright is as fovorable as you could 
wisli. He is cautions, but as far as his opinion can be a test of its intentions, it is 
decidedly with the Governor. Come at once." 

BuNNER TO Hamilton. 

"February 2, 1829. 

"My Dear Hamilton: I spoke to Mrs. Peyton, and she says you can be 
accommodated with a room, and certainly our mess will be glad to receive you. It 
is small, consisting of Kane, Ver Planck, Tazewell, Dickinson and myself. How- 
ever I will get their formal allowance to-day. 

" If you do not hear from me, conclude it granted. The Judge (White) of Ten- 
nessee, urged me to write to you the letter of last night which I forgot to note. I 
presume he thinks with me, that you should be on the spot earlier than you intended. 
I have not yet seen McLean. I can conjectui'e nothing further on the important 
subject of New York, which engrosses all interest here at present." 

Martin Van Burex to James A. Hamilton. 

" Albany, February 1, 1829. 
" My Dear Sir : When do you go to Washington ? I have a letter from my 
friend Major Hamilton, which I should like to send to you if there is time." 

These letters were amusing to me at the time, particularly, because I well 
knew that two points were settled — first, Van Buren was to be Secretary of 
State. 

When I parted from the General in 1828, he balanced between him and 
Clinton. The death of the latter removed all doubts, and I had been informed 
by the General that he intended to make Eaton Secretary of War, becau,se he 
felt it was necessary for him to have in his Cabinet one old friend upon whom 
he could always rely, and who well knew him. 

The importance of my being in Washington, appeared to me to be ground- 
less, or at all events, very much exaggerated. 

The following statement taken from notes made in writing, at the time, by 
the writer, as to the President's course as long as I was with him, may be relied 
upon as strictly accurate. No man could have served another more faithfully 
or disinterestedly, than I did General Jackson : 

" General Jackson, to avoid the ceremonial of a public reception, made a forced 
march, and was in the City of Washington, on February 12th, 1829. Ic was my good 
fortune to arrive the same day. When I called upon him in the evening, I was 



90 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

flattered by being received with open arms. He spoke of the death of his wife with 
deep feeling, and said, ' Colonel, you knew her well and respected her.' I replied, 
taking his hand, ' I did more than that ; I had a sincere regard for her ; and now 
consider her absence as a calamity.' He said, ' I am glad you are here ; you must give 
me all of your time ; you have all my confidence. When have you heard from Mr. 
Van Buren? ' I answered, that I had visited him last month, in Albany. 

" He immediately opened the subject of the Cabinet by saying, ' It is not neces- 
sary to make a selection from Virginia. Slie has had many Presidents and Secre- 
taries. The Virginians are a high-minded people and do not seek office. Virginia 
has now the Secretary of "War, and as it would not be decorous to deprive her of it, 
I will put Tazewell in the place of Barbour.' I intimated my approbation of this 
course, and that it would be well, in order to soothe disappointed feelings, to let 
that be intimated to Tazewell, which the General said he would do. 

" The General during the evening requested me to write to Van Buren, to say a 
letter would be written to him otfering him the place of Secretary of State. The 
next morning the General asked me if I had written as I had been requested to do. 
I replied, I had, and on Sunday following I was told by the General, that a letter had 
been written to Van Buren oftering him the State Department, and I was requested 
to write to him to urge him to come on without delay. I was repeatedly asked 
afterward by the General whether 1 believed lie would accept (this was when the 
deliberations were held in regard to tlie other departments, of which I propose to 
speak hereafter). 

" It had been said that Tazewell would not take a place ; that he had declared, 
' Having been elected a Senator, I would as soon think of taking a place under 
George IV., if I was sent a minister to his court, as I would to take a place in the 
Cabinet.' It was, however, intimated that he would go to London. I was in the 
house and mess with Tazewell ; I knew him well, very well. "When he was a Com- 
missioner under the Florida Treaty, and I was an agent of claims, we were for 
months together in the same house and mess. One afternoon we made a bet of 
wine in regard to the price of English stocks. I remarked after the bet was noted 
down, Mr. Bunner being present, ' "We would drink it in London.' It took him by 
surprise, and changing countenance, lie rose up, recovered himself, and said, ' You 
may drink it there, I cannot.' I thought this was all pretense, and that his lan- 
guage imported less than his looks, and intimated to my friend Mr. Bunner, in the 
course of the evening, to leave us alone. He did so; and I sat up with Tazewell 
late in the evening. In the course of our conversation, I told him what I had hoard, 
to wit: ' That he would not take a place in the Cabinet, but was willing to go to 
England,' ])refacing this with the declaration that it was 'due to frankness to inform 
him of what was said ; not that I wanted to draw an answer from him.' lie 
replied, ' I have no hesitation ; that as to the first, it is true, as to the hitter, no 
person was authorized to say so.' He then gave his reasons why he would not take 
a place in the Cabinet, which were ' That, having been just now elected a Senator, 
it would not be treating the people of Virginia well to abandon them ; tliat he could 
not do so ; besides he had a family, and would not bring them up in "^'ashington 
for any consideration whatever.' I merely added, in order to bring him out on the 
other point, that ' I had hoped it was true that he had said he would go to 
England.' This produced no reply. 

" I afterward told the President elect, that as to a department, he could have no 
difficulty as to Tazewell. He said lie had had a conversation with him, and told him 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 01 

■what his intentions were in regard to England, and why he could not appoint him 
to a department. 

" Tazewell undoubtedly expected and desired to get the State Department. The 
editorial articles in the Richmond, Enquirer are fall to that point. Calhoun wished 
it, and T.izewell was greatly dissatisfied with the Cabinet. His conversations with 
Louis McLane and others were very full, and very indiscreet ; after all, however, 
when he was distinctly offered the mission to England, he accepted it, and con- 
ferred with me more than once on the subject of his going, and of the Secretary of 
Legation. He also talked with Mr. Berrian, (who was appointed Attorney-General, 
being well understood, as was Tazewell, to be a Calhoun man,) on the subject, and 
notwitlistanding all this, a paragraph appeared in a Norfolk paper (Mr. Tazewell's 
place of residence) declaring that Tazewell would not go abroad, giving the reasons ; 
and, as I understood, (I did not see the article) that he Avould not take a place less 
than one in the Cabinet." 

" March 11. 

" Tazewell about 2 o'clock sent a letter to the President stating that letters from 
Norfolk giving information of domestic affairs, had rendered it necessary for him 
to say he could not accept the Mission, and as the interests of the country required 
a Minister to be sent immediately, he must be considered as out of view." 

This statement, taken from my journal, shows some of the difficulties we had 
to encounter. The truth is — and that was well understood by General Jack- 
son — that Calhoun and his friends made a desperate effort to induce the Presi- 
dent to employ such men in his cabinet as would give them control of the 
Government. The game was Tazewell, Secretary of State ; Ingham, Treasury; / 
Berrian, Attorney-General, and John McLean, Secretary of War. The journal/ 
proceeds : 

"T called upon the President on the evening of 11th March, he talked with 
me of Tazewell's letter, and desired me to call upon him early the next morning, 
when he would show me the letter; that I must come before breakfast, and come 
to his bedroom if he was not up." 

"March 12th. 

" I called at eight o'clock ; the President came to me ; showed me the letter. I 
advised liira to send for Tazesvell and urge him by every consideration, public as well 
as personal, to accept the appointment, and I impressed upon him tiie necessity of in- 
sisting upon Tazewell's giving him the reason for his not going ; which I believed was 
his unwillingness to be connected with this Cabinet (the Cabinet was then formed). 
The President wrote a note to Tazewell, -who called upon him. The President, after 
Tazewell hid left him, sent for me, and told me what the conversation was. The rea- 
sons Tazewell gave for declining were entirely of a private or domestic character. The 
President, however, desired him not to decide on refusing, but to take the matter into 
consideration, and see if he could not arrange his atfiiirs so as to enable him to go 
abroad ; and so tlie President considered the matter as remaining. Tazewell, how- 
ever, told McLane that he had given his final answer in the negative. That he was 
not pleased with the manner in which the President had urged it; that he had 
looked him through and through^ and had told him that ' he must go.' Had given him 
a military order, but that he considered the matter at rest. 



92 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" I must go back. Van Buren, in reply to the letter oflfering him the place of 
Secretary of State, accepted ; provided he could remain at Albany until April, when 
the Legislature would adjourn, as it would not be proper for liim to resign his place 
of Governor until after the rising of the Legislature. "When that letter was read to 
Jackson, he hesitated as to the answer ; and after a short time, said to me, ' Colonel, 
I will consent to his remaining away, if you will undertake to perform the duties of 
the department until he comes.' I replied, ' General, I cannot consent to that 
arrangement, because I well know I am incompetent to perform the duties of the 
place.' lie replied, briskly, ' That is my affair ; I know you can perform the duties 
as well as any other. If you consent, prepare a paper for me to sign, appointing you 
to perform the duties of Secretary of State until Mr. Van Buren shall come here and 
assume the duties.' This matter was so arranged, and I wrote to Van Buren, telling 
him the President had agreed that he should remain in Albany as long as his duties 
required him to do so." 

Martin Van Buken to James A. Hamilton. 

"February 2, 1829. 

" Mt Dear Hamilton : I enclose you a letter to the General, which explains all 
that I would otherwise write. You will exercise your discretion as to delivering it 
open or sealed. If the arrangement I propose succeeds, or, whether it does or not, 
there cannot be a doubt of our ability to serve you in proportion to our desires. I have 
no time to add another word. I hope Eaton has shown you my letter to him. I had 
not iieard or thought of Messrs. Branch and Eaton as members of the Cabinet, and but 
slightly of Mr. Berrian. I have, as you know, accepted the General's invitation, and 
shall stand my liand. I am anxious that McLane and Major-General Hamilton (of 
South Carolina), should understand all my views ; but not to make them a subject of 
remark. Hamilton and myself only differed in this, that I wished McLane for the 
Treasury and Cheves for the Navy. But, if the matter is settled otherwise, you and 
he will see tlie vital importance of my not saying a word upon the point, or in relation 
to events which I could not have foreseen, and cannot avoid. See Hamilton and give 
him this information. Tell him, I have received his letter, and sincerely thank him 
for if, and that I will write him soon; but I have scarcely time to turn round, and 
anything I might say now would come too late. But, excuse me for again pressing 
the importance of not using my name in a manner which could only serve to excite 
prejudices that might do a dis-service to the public, and all other interests, without 



doing good. Wi-ite me often. 



" Yours truly, 



Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Albany, February 15, 1829. 

"My Dear Sir : Enclosed, you have a letter from Major Eaton to me and a copy 
of my reply. You will judge by the condition of things when they arrive whether 
it will be best to deliver the letter or not. If the Cabinet arrangements are made 
when my letter is received, it will for many reasons be desirable that my inattention 
to the Major's letter, should be attributed to the same cause with his negligence in 
not sending it to rae before. His query in relation to myself, was not much better 
considered than the letter of Major L., on the subject to which you replied for me. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 93 

You will, of course, not let the Major know that you are advised of anythin"- except 
what you are requested to say in the note that covers his. Write me. 

" Yery truly yours." 

The following are copies of the letters " enclosed." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"February 15, 1829. 
"ITt Dear Sir: I wish you would hand the enclosed to Major Eaton. It is 
quite confidential, and I wish you to say to him that, contrary to my nature, I have 
sent it in the handwriting of my son, from a consciousness of his (M. E.'s) habitual 
carelessness about his letters, and an apprehension that it might (as heretofore in 
other cases) find its way into one of the Committee rooms folded up in a petition in 
behalf of some good fellow, who has no friend except the Major; who, to his credit 
be it said, is a friend to the friendless. 

" In haste, very cordially yours." 

Martin Van Buren to Major Eaton. 

" Dear Sir : Your questions are of great delicacy, and I shall confidently expect 
that what I say in reply to tliem shall be known to lut one i^erson besides yourself. 
It is of vital importance to have a decided majority in the quarter to which you 
allude ; but, it is not, under the circumstances, as material how large that majority 
is. It will be constantly gaining, and with good treatment may be made efiicient for 
every desirable purpose. You have a few new men, and the old are apt to degenerate 
or improve from circumstances of every day's occurrence. What may be the state 
of things in that respect, you, being on the spot, can better judge than myself If 
you have twenty-five or twenty-six good men and true, I should think matters would 
be safe enough. 

"You want, for the other concern, practical, intelligent and efficient men, who 
are conversant with the aftaiis of the nation, and in whom the people have confi- 
dence — men whose capacities are adapted to the discharge of the public business, 
whether they might, or might not, shine in the composition of essays on abstract 
and abstruse subjects. Both the gentlemen to whom you refer are of that char- 
acter; the one to whose recent speech you allude is eminently so. From my know- 
ledge of his industry, intelligence and energy, and also the good feeling that every- 
where exists toward him — together with some peculiarities in his political condition, 
I cannot but regard the selection of him fur some difiicult and responsible stntion as 
a great desideratum. He is one of the most practical, common-sense men in the 
nation. With respect to the other gentleman to whom you refer and who is not of 
that Body, I feel great delicacy in speaking. He has had to pass through very deli- 
cate and trying scenes. There was a time when it was probable that he would be 
so tied down to his present situation by circumstances, as to put it out of his power 
to leave it, whatever his personal wishes might be ; but by good fortune he has, it is 
believed, escaped such entanglement, and is at perfect liberty to pursue his own 
wishes in the premises, provided their gratification has for its object the public good. 
No one has authority to say that he will not consent to change his situation, if that 
can be done under such circumstances as will satisfy him of the probability that he 
can be more useful than in his present station." 



94 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Albany, February 21, 1829. 

" My Dear Sir : I have written a long letter to Eaton, whicli I have authorized 
him to s^how to General Jackson, Judge White and yourself. Let McLane know its 
contents. I have also referred to yon in my letter to the General. I am very de- 
sirous to have you with me in tlie capacity of which we have spoken. There is 
nothing in the past to prevent it, and the future is full of hope. The only question 
is, as to the best mode of getting rid of the present incumbent. It would be desir- 
able to provide some other place for him if jn-acticable, and then, again, is it, or is 
it not necessary to keep him for some time to get the affairs into successful operation. 
So far from McLane's letter being an objection to your taking it, it furnishes an argu- 
ment in its favor, inasmuch as it enables us to place the other gentleman's resignation 
upon some better ground than that of personal objections. The fact that I would not, 
under any circumstances, have appointed him even if you had solicited it, is of control- 
ling influence. Conld you stay until I come down ? I have really no time to enlarge, 
as yon may well suppose. Let me hear from you fully upon all these matters. / 
hope the General icill not find it necessary to avoic any opinion vpon Constitutional 
questions at war tcith the doctrines of the Jefferson School. Whatever his views may 
be, there can be no necessity of doing so in an inaugural address. Remember me 
affectionately to Judge White and Mr. Tazewell. I have, in a letter of to-day, to 
Mr. Eaton, again touched upon the subject of the Treasury Department. Yours 
truly, &c." 

Coleman of the Evening Post, in a letter addressed to me at "Washington, 
dated New York, February 19, 1829, says : 

"You have, I believe, the ears of Jackson more than any other individual; and 
why do you not avail yourself of the great opportunity it gives you not merely for 
your own gratification, but to promote indirectly his views by a judicious circulation 
of them, by means of the press, accompanied by popular recommendations or defence 
when defence may be deemed expedient? " 

Such was the anxiety of this veteran Editor to have the reputation of be- 
ing in advance of his contemporaries of the press, as to give such advice. 

In a letter dated February 23, 1829, which is certainly of much more in- 
terest, he says : 

" What you tell me respecting Adams' assertions, or information respecting your 
Father's opinion of the purchase of Louisiana, not a little surprises me ; for it so 
happens that that opinion was, after repeated conversations with me, comniitted to 
writing in my own phraseology, indeed, for the purpose of publication in the Evening 
Post ; and so desirous was he of having his ideas on this important measure of gov- 
ernment expressed with the greatest precision, neither restricted nor extended in any 
degree, that being informed at what time the proof sheets would be roady for inspec- 
tion, ho came to the office and examined it after it had been corrected and was all 
ready to go to press, and having with great deliberation carefully perused the whole, 
declared it contained the identical idea he had wished to express on the subject. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 95 

" That article I have not seen for some years, but a little research -will discover it 
when I again go down to my office. 

" But this is not all I have to say as respects your Father, in connection with this 
subject. Mr. Bronson" (the distinguisljed Banker, Isaac Bronsoit), " lately told nie 
that some years since he happened to dine at the same table with John Adams, the 
father, and John Quincy Adams, the son, at which the subject of a dissolution of 
the Union was introduced and discussed ; and on that occasion Mr. Bronson distinct- 
ly remembers that John Q. Adams said, that a certain Federal gentleman of much 
consideration in the party (naming him — it is believed that gentleman was Gouver- 
neur Morris), entertained an opinion that it would be conducive to the prosperity of 
New England, to dissolve all political connection with the Southern States; and that 
some others of his friends held the same opinions, but that he must do Hamilton the 
justice to say, that he did not coincide with them. 

" It is in my power to state facts and circumstances not less strong and conclusive, 
as to your father's settled and decisive opinion respecting every thing that had the 
remotest tendency to the dissolution of the Union. 

"Oq a little reflection I cannot possibly believe Adams will venture on so bold a 
thing, as you have been led to suppose. It would bring him and his name beneath 
a torrent of everlasting infamy. I cannot believe it until I see it," 

Martin Van Buren to James A. IIamiltox. 

" Albany, February, 1829. 
"My Dear Sir : The several letters which I have written to the President through 
you, explain most things of which I would otherwise speak in this. Any mode in 
which you may think the business of the Department can be best attended to, 
whether that which is stated in your letter of the 25th, or the one suggested by me, 
will be alike agreeable. I have received a letter from Mr. Gulian Yerplanck to-day, in 
which he informs me that it is understood to be the intention of the President, to 
send Mr. Moore of Kentucky, to Mexico, but that it is feared that his nomination 
and departure will be delayed by my absence, and that such delay would be embar- 
rassing to Mr. Moore. If this is so, it is proper that I should say, that I know of 
few men who have stronger claims upon the interest that is now happily ascendant 
than Moore, and that my respect for his talents is equal to my conviction of his high 
merits in other respects. As he goes out to relieve Mr. Poinsett, I am not apprized 
that any particular instructions, other than such as may without prejudice to the 
public interest be sent after him, will be necessary. Should the case be otherwise, 
you will have no difficulty in causing them to be prepared. You should not suffer 
the imputations of Mr. Adams to afflict you. Certainly not for the present, for the 
declaration of an old gentleman acknowledging himsoii partice}}S criminis that a 
nameless somebody told him that your father agreed to attend a convention, cannot, 
with just minds, be regarded as sufficient to impair his patriotism. Write me direct- 
ed to N'ew York, to the care of Campbell. Make my best respects to the President, 
and believe me to be, 

" Yery truly yours, &c." 



96 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

"Washington, Feb. 29, 1829. 

" My Dear Sir : Your letter to General Jackson was received by him to-day. 
After I bad read it, he desired me in answer to say that although be regretted your 
absence for so long a time as you would be detained, be acquiesced in it as necessary. 
He added that as you had referred him to Mr. Hamilton, the duties of your place 
would devolve on him ; and expressed a hope I would remain here to perform them 
until your arrival, which I unhesitatingly consented to do. He then told me that 
there were several appointments in regard to which be would require my opinion ; 
and that I should confer with the Attorney-General, particularly as to the ap- 
pointment of a minister to the Netherlands. I presume from w^bat he stated that 
the question first to be decided will be whether it is necessary to have a minister 
plenipotentiary sent to tbat coui't; fm(i second, whether Mr. Hughes should be the 
person or not. The first must be decided by a due consideration of the importance 
of the decision, and by tbe fact intimated to me, that the King of the Netherlands 
had requested tbe appointment of a minister of equal grade with tbe one represent- 
ing liim here. I am of opinion that unless some i)lau of commissioners can be 
devised, that a full minister should be sent ; but that Hughes is not ' large ' enough 
for the place. The selection should be made from Maine, if a fit person can be 
found there. What is to be said of Judge Preeble ? In that event Hughes might 
be transferred, and where ? 

" Might it not be expedient to send commissioners, giving them the rank of 
ministers extraordinary, and tbe pay of those of the second rank ? and let Hughes 
and Preeble be appointed. Col. Humphries was sent to Portugal with tbe style and 
rank of Minister Resident, with the pay of Charge. However, I infer from Wash- 
ington's message that this was an arrangement between the Government and 
Humphries. He says : (Executive Journal, vol. 1, page 74) ' I do not mean tbat 
the change of grade shall render the mission more expensive.' By the same journal, 
pp. 95 to 99, it appears that Carmicbael, Charge at Madrid, and Short, Charge at 
Paris, were appointed Commissioners Plenipotentiary for negotiating and concluding a 
Treaty with Spain, concerning the navigation of the Mississippi. The question now 
arises whether they received the pay of Charges or of Ministers Plenipotentiary. Do 
me the favor on receipt of this to reply to it, tbat I may receive your views by the 
5th of March. 

" As I fully concur with you as to the course you intend to pursue in regard to 
resigning ; and as tbe public business, after the Senate adjourns, may be so pressing 
as to suffer by your absence, I would take all my steps with even more deliberation 
than would be strictly called for by a regard to your dignity and that of the state. 
The General will address a letter to me, stating your acceptance, your necessary 
detention, and desiring me to take charge of the department until you arrive 
here. 

" Your last letter to Eaton came too late (the first I did not deliver) to produce any 
change ; it is, however, proper as tbe record of your views, and may be of great 
service hereafter. I regret that you should have enjoined so strict a silence in 
regard to its contents. However, as you may remove the injunction of secrecy bye 
and bye, it will be the same thing. 

"Efforts are now being made to induce McLean (P. M. G.) to remain where he is. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 97 

They -vvill, I believe, be unsuccessful, to the great mortification of tlie General ; equal 
joy of Calhoun & Co., and tlie deep disappointment of Eaton. It is also, by some, 
hoped that Ingham may decline the Treasury, go into the P. O., and that McLane, 
of Delaware, may go to the Treasury. To induce this move, your letter will have 
much effect. 

"I thank you for your kind and complimentary reference to me in your two 
letters. 

^ ' . ^-^ Adieu, yours, (fee, &c." 

In the course of tlie important business of forming a cabinet, I was remind- 
ed of the fact that General Washington, when he was making his selections, 
inquired of Financier Morris, who was the most proper person to be appointed 
to the Treasury. He replied, Hamilton. Jefferson was selected for the State 
Department more particularly from his having been a foreign minister ; and 
General Gates for the War Department, because as an experienced officer he 
was well acquainted with military affairs. , 

In this important work by President Jackson, no thought appeared to 
be given as to the fitness of the persons for their places. I am sure I never 
heard one word in relation thereto, and I certainly had repeated conversations with 
him in regard to these appointments. Indeed, Van Buren, in his letters on the 
subject, never made a suggestion of that kind. His letter to me in relation to 
the President's Inaugural Address, manifested his anxiety that " the General 
will not find it necessary to avow any opinion upon constitutional questions at 
war with the doctrines of the Jefferson school." 

Mr. Van Buren was certainly not eminently fitted for the State Depart- 
ment, by his knowledge of public affairs, by his education, which was very 
limited, or his intellectual endowments. In the preparation of his first report 
as secretary, he required a friend to revise and correct that document. Indeed 
all his public papers required the assistance of a friend, and to that end he 
induced Mr. B. F. Butler to go to Washington and to remain there. 

Webster told the writer that Van Buren's dealings with the questions of 
impressment, and on the boundary line, impaired the rights of the United 
States. 

Eaton was made Secretary of War alone, because the General, as he said, 
must have one man about him in whom he had entire confidence. It is believed 
that Eaton wrote a history of the General's military life. 

Branch was selected because of personal relations. He had no capacity to 
direct the affairs of the Navy; and Barry those of the Post-oflice, in obedience 
to the wishes of the Kentucky Delegation. (See the account of his pecuniary 
administration of his ofiice in a subsequent chapter.) 

Ingham came as the representative of one of the factions of Pennsylvania, 
seeking the place of Comptroller of the Treasury. Such was bis appreciation 
of his abilities. 

7 



98 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Applications for and Appointments to Office. 

The followiug letter indicates the grounds upon which applications were 
made. The writer was an inhabitant of the State of Indiana. The letter is 
addressed to James A. Hamilton : — 

" Wasuington City, January 14, 1829. 

"Deae Sir : Having had the honor of bringing to this city the electoral votes 
for President of the United States, I calculated to remain a few Aveeks for tlie arrival 
of General Jackson, hcping some of these violent Adams men now in office may 
receive their loalMng papers. I have recommendations from the Republican mem- 
bers of tlie Legislature of the State of Indiana for any office I can ask ; but, as many 
beside myself will apply, I wish to show by letters from my correspondents in tlie 
diiferent states the active part I took during the strvggle for Republicanism. Sir, 
as you received from me some letters respecting the Presidential election, will you be 
so good as to direct a letter to me at this place, on the receipt of this, stating my 
correspondence with you, and such things as you may think proper, for I think 
those who stood the heat of the battle should be first to receive of its benefits. I 
should like either the Register's office at Crawfordsville, Indiana, or the Marshal of 
the State. Tlicse offices are now held by those of the most active of the Adams 
men. Yours respectfully." 

I do not give the name of the writer of this letter, nor do I recollect any- 
thing further on the subject. 

One man founded his claims to office on the ground that he was the first 
member of the Legislature of his state who nominated General Jackson for 
President. 
V Two men of Pennsylvania were applicants for the office of Marshal. Their 
petitions were subscribed by thousands ; the object of each being to rest his 
claims to office upon the number of his petitioners. When the huge rolls 
were brought to the Department, the number of ^ names were estimated by 
.the length of the paper subscribed. 

Men came, women came, to sustain the applications of their husbands and 

other relatives. The crowd was so great, and the persistence so unreasonable, 

that an order was issued not to admit any person to the office of the Secretary 

until a late hour of the day. This was necessary to give time to perform the 

^ public duties. 

^"^^ The writer had the good fortune to save the Honorable Henry Wheaton, 
who was minister to Prussia, and Mr. Tudor, of Boston, who was, he believes, 
Charge at Buenos Ayres, from removal. 

The removal of my friend, John Duer, District- Attorney U. S., was in vain 
resisted by me. The President had been informed that he was connected with 
the American newspaper in New York, then edited by Charles King, who had 
made a most unwarrantable attack upon Mrs. Jackson. 

I was charged with having induced Mr. Duer's removal, in order to get the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 99 

place. There was no foundation for this. I did not seek or desire that office. 
How I was appointed is distinctly and truly stated above. 

I return to my Journal as to the formation of the Cabinet. After the 
President had determined to make Eaton Secretary of War, or, rather, after 
that determination was made known, McLean, the then Post-Master-Greneral, who 
was pressed by Calhoun for the Department of the Treasury or War, was very 
anxious to change his position, among other reasons, to avoid the loss of charac- 
ter and popularity by removing persons whom he appointed when he should be 
required to do so. He urged upon the President the consideration of the pecu- 
liar delicacy in which he was placed in regard to removals, and induced the 
President to say " that if Eaton and he could agree to make an exchange he 
would assent to it." Eaton did agree to relimiuish and McLean to take the 
War Department, and the President announced his choice to Major Hamilton 
of South Carolina, and others. 

On the 25th February, Mr. Van Buren's letter of acceptance was received. 
It was a long letter written to Eaton, who was directed to show it to Jackson, 
Judge White and Hamilton. He strongly urged Louis McLane for the Treas- 
ury. I do not think this letter was shown to Jackson or White, but it was to 
Lewis and Dudley (Senator), and was then destroyed. After I had read it I re- 
marked to Eaton it was too late, that I sincerely regretted he b&d consented 
to the exchanges, and inquired if no means could be made use of to influence 
McLean to yield. I stated that I knew the General was worried about it, and 
regretted he had given his assent — that I was willing to do anything in my 
power to promote his views. He asked me if I was acquainted with the Post- 
Master-General. I said I was slightly. He then suggested that I might call 
\jpon him Avith Lewis and place the matter in so strong a light as to induce him 
to yield. I had at Lewis's request seen James Hamilton (S. C.) and urged 
him to do the same thing, which he declined, alleging that he would do nothing 
on the subject of the Cabinet as he had not been consulted about it. Here I may 
remark that Louis McLane of Delaware, by their authority, authorized me to 
say to Jackson that Hamilton (S. C), Drayton, Hayne, McDuffie and iVrcher 
had not called to talk with him on the subject of his Cabinet, from motives of 
delicacy, but that if he wished to see them they would call. I mentioned this 
to the President, and he invited them to an interview. They saw him. Hamil- 
ton (S. C.) was spokesman. He could effect nothing. Their object was the 
Treasury either for Chevis of South Carolina, or Louis McLane of Dalawarc, 
or anybody but Ingham. The President had made up his mind. I repeat, the 
choice was a very bad one. Ingham was not fitted for the situation. He had 
not one of the qualities required for that office. It was understood that he 
came to Washington in the hope of being appointed Comptroller. This was 
his appreciation of his abilities. 

I immediately went to Lewis and proposed to him to go to the Post-Mastcr- 
Gencral. He declined for good reasons. We then determined to ask Judge 



100 r.EMINISCElS^CES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"White to see liini, who did see him and induced him to yield the place to Eaton 
and remain where he was, and the next day the Cabinet was announced in the 
Telegraph. 

February IQtth. — The General put into my hands various applications for 
office to digest and arrange, and to give my opinion, so that I am now most un- 
expectedly engaged in the business of the Department of State. I made the 
following report : 

" James A. Hamilton presents his respects to the President elect, and returns 
herewith the papers committed to him in relation to the following appointments, to 
wit: 

" A Judge of the (Supreme Court of the United States. 

"A Judge of the District Court of Louisiana. 

" A Judge of the District Court of Ohio. 

" A District Attorney for Indiana. And begs leave to say that from all the in- 
formation he has obtained on these subjects, in his oi)iiiion, the best selections would 
be as follows : 

" William T. Barry of Kentucky, Judge of tlie Supreme Court. 

" Samuel H. Harper, Judge of the District Court of Louisiana. 

" John W. Camplell, Judge of the District Court of Ohio, and 

" Samuel Judah, District Attorney f >r the State of Indiana. 

"James A. Hamilton." 

At this time the Post-Master-General was not a candidate for the office of 

Judge. The day before the nomination was to be made, Ingham, at McLean's 

instance, (ialled upon the President and told him that the Post Master General 

would like to take the office of Judge, and urged again the peculiar delicacy 

: and diffi-culty of his situation as Post-Master-General, in regard to removals. 

':The President sent for me, told me of this intimation, and asked my opinion, 

il immediately said of all things it was best, and that nothing should be left un- 

: attempted to accomplish it. He felt that he was committed to Barry's friends, 

'of the Kentucky Delegation. I answered, '• that preference was given to Barry 

before McLean was thought of." He said if the Kentucky Delegation would 

acquiesce he would make the appointment, Bibb was sent for. He acquiesced, 

and promised to see some of the gentlemen. I was requested to call early in 

the morning, which I did, before breakfast — then told the General I believed I 

had some influence with T. W. Moore — that I would see him and induce him to 

: acquiesce. I immediately went to his lodgings — conferred with him. I made 

^the following note of what occurred: 

" March G, 1829. I called upon Major T. W. Moore in relation to the appoint- 

:ment of Judge of the Supreme Court, Barry having been selected for this office 

before it was known McLean (P. M. G.) would take it. After much conversation 

Major Moore desired me to say to General Jackson, that he wished him to look over 

:the whole ground, Major Barry's qualifications, etc., and that if he should determine 

rthat it would be advantageous to his.administration, and promote the public interests 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 101 

to select the Pos'.-Master-CTeneral, he (Moore) would be answerable that there would 
be no grumbling or dissatisfaction in tlie Kentucky Delegation on the subject. 

"Mr. Moore said to me, ' I have no donbt if Major Barry was here he would with- 
draw his Irretentions in a moment,' and he further asked how the President would 
assure himself tliat McLean would not continue to be a candidate for the Presidency 
and make his official influence a means of promoting his success and thereby im- 
pairing the dignity of the office and the Court. I said in reply, ' I would advise Gen- 
eral Jackson to send for McLean, and to say lie contemplated nominating him for 
Judge, but that he had perhaps peculiar views in regard to tlie course to be pursued 
by judicial officers. That he considered them as Ministers of the Temple of Justice, 
and that as such they were necessarily separated from all party politics or feelings.' 
I communicated to the General this conversation. lie said he was pleased with the 
result, and that he would hold such a conversation Avitli McLean as I had suggested. 

" March G, 1829. 

[Signed] '"James A. Hamiltox." 



The nomination was made immediately. It came like a thunder-clap upon 
the Senate and was stunning to Calhoun, who hoped that with the Post-Master- 
General in the person of McLean (being a member of the Cabinet with Ingham), 
he could have some influence or perhaps constraint. The arrangement having been 
made, Barry was to be Post-Master-General. I called upon McLean to get his 
resignation, which was given to me, and immediately Barry's name was sent in 
for Post- Master-General. 

Shortly after the General's arrival, he requested me to come to his lodgings 
early in the morning, that he might, as he said, confer with me uninterruptedly 
before other persons should call. One morning I was Avith him, the formation 
of his Cabinet being the subject. We were together until after 9 a. m., when 
he told me Calhoun was to call at 10 o'clock. " I know what he is about. He 
cannot succeed. I wish you to remain in this house until he leaves. Then re- 
turn and you shall know all about it." I retired — Calhoun called — I remained, 
and returned to the General after Calhoun left. Jackson said, " He wishes me to 
appoint Tazewell, Secretary of State, and urged it upon me with great earnest- 
ness, dwelling much on his great knowledge and wisdom, and particularly the 
great influence this appointment would have upon Virginia — securing thus her 
support to the administration. I received what he said Arith great attention ; 
and without rejecting his advice, I asked if it would not be useful to secure 
the influence of the State of New York. By this he knew I meant to refer to 
Van Buren, Ilis reply was, New York would have been secured by Clinton if 
he had lived. It cannot be by the influence of any other of her citizens. 
However, New York is safe without an appointment." This interview, it is be- 
lieved, was the last with Calhoun on the subject of the Cabinet. 

T. W- Moore, who was appointed Minister to Columbia, wished to be Post- 
Master-Geueral, and it was determined that Barry should be sent abroad. This, 
however, was not disclosed to me until the 17th March. 



102 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

I do not know how Branch happened to be selected for the Navy. He was 
an old friend of the President's, and, having land in Tennessee, frequently visited 
him there. Pie was wholly incompetent for this or any other place in the Cabinet. 
Ingham was taken because it was deemed important to do something for Penn- 
sylvania. He came to Washington hoping to be Comptroller. A portion of 
the delegation waited upon the General and insisted if anything was to be done 
for Pennsylvania, Ingham was their choice. They were of those known as the 
" Family Party.'''' 

When attempts were made to induce the President not to appoint Eaton — 
and they were made particularly by the Tennessee Delegation, the Greneral 
rising- with outstretched arms said, "I will sink or swim with him, by God." 

In connection with my appointment as Secretary, I wrote thus to a " valued 
friend :" 

" I have this day received from the General, a letter appointing me acting Secre- 
tary of State, dated 4t.h inst. Thus I will at least have the gratification of being 
connected with the history of our Government, and have had some slight influence 
upon its affairs. What may follow is uncertain. I have not made a single move- 
ment in reference to myself." 

The following written to the same person on the subject of the Cabinet, dated 
17th Feburary, 1829, may be useful because written immediately after leaving 
the General : 

" I am most heartily sick of Washington, and not a little tired of the intrigue 
in which we all live. — I went to dine with Jackson ; at home nine o'clock p. m. 
My conversation with the General after the gentlemen retired, was perfectly free 
on the w4iole subject which now occupies his and the public attention. Nothing is 
decided beyond Van Buren for the State and Eaton for the War. The doubt seems 
to be whether Ingham or McLane of Delaware is to be Secretary of the Treasury ; 
Tazewell is out of the question for Cabinet appointment ; but will be offered the 
English Mission. I incline to think the Post-Master-General will remain where he 
is. South Carolina gets nothing. The General is clear and judicious in the views 
which will govern him in making his choice. He may, and I fear will, err in the 
choice of the person for the Treasury. Louis McLane would be a good, and Ingham 
not a good selection. If it will gratify you I will let yon know that I am looked 
upon here as quite a distinguished pei'sonage. Not, however, from any merit I have ; 
but from the belief that I am one of three who enjoy all the General's confidence. 
The Tennessee Delegation particularly are disposed to make much of me. Be assured, 
my friend, I take no credit for all this ; and to say the truth, I am more mortified than 
pleased l)y the reflection that my consequence should rest alone upon mere accident." 

February 27. — Van Buren addressed a letter of this date to Gen. Jackson 
and sent it open to me. In it he accepted the position of Secretary of State, and 
asked permission to remain at Albany until April : 

" It has been usual," he wrote " through the whole course of the Government, to 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 103 

place one Department temporarily under the superintendence of the head of another. 
That may, and will probably, have to be done in this case. The only difficulty may 
be, that the personal relations between Mr. Clay and the gentlemen whom you will 
select for your Cabinet, may be such as to lose the advantage of those explanations 
from the present incumbent (Mr. Clay), which it is bis duty to give, and with the 
possession of which the public interests may be materially connected ; but which in 
case of a communication with a person against whom he felt a strong personal 
dislike, lie might either withhold or give so grudgingly as to defeat the object. 
Allow me to suggest a mode by which the embarrassment upon this point may be 
in a great degree relieved." * * * " It is of vital importance that I should have for 
my under Secretary or Chief Clerk a gentleman who is not only intelligent, capable, 
and honorable, but one in whom I can repose implicit confidence. From my own 
knowledge of his character, my friend Ool. Hamilton answers fully to that character 
and is the gentleman to whom I had looked for that station. * * * Do me the 
favor to advise Mr. Hamilton what to write to me : and to arrange affairs in such 
a way as to allow me the longest time ; as I do really stand in need of it to enable 
me to come out with credit. 

" Yours affectionately, 

" M. Van Buken." 

Felruary 20. — I quote from a letter I addressed to a judicious friend as 
folio w^s : 

" "When I handed this letter to the President he read it, and asked to see me 
alone. He then said: ' You must remain here; I cannot spare you; I want j'ou 
near me. There will be no difficulty hereafter in gratifying you as you desire; but 
at present you must remain here.' I replied : ' Such is my intention. I am prepared 
to devote my whole time to promote the success of your administration when and 
wherever I can be useful to you.' He was gratified, took my hand, and said : ' You 
are my friend, and so let it remain as we have arranged it.' I then said : ' Between 
Van Buren and myself there is unlimited confidence, and at the same time, on my 
part, the most perfect independence.'' I explained my appointment as Aid-de-Camp, 
that he might exactly understand our relations. I added : ' Now, General, no man 
better understands than you do the value of that independence of feeling, and how- 
necessary it is that it should be preserved.' He replied : ' Well, so it shall be ; 
remain where you are.' " 

Shortly after. Van Buren, in a second letter, advised that I should take 
the place of Chief Clerk. I communicated this suggestion to Jackson, to 
which he replied, emphatically. Colonel, that will not do ; to appoint you Chief 
Clerk I consider as degrading you. The arrangement we liavcrmade, that you 
"shall take the department until Van Buren comes in, is the proper one, and so 
I wish you to inform him ; which I did. There were two serious objections to 
Van Buren's plan ; one was, that I would not take such a position ; the other 
that Mr. Clay having resigned, Mr. Brent, the Chief Clerk, was charged by 
law with the department. There was, consequently, no person or power to 
appoint a Chief Clerk. 



104 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

President Jackson's InxVugural Address. 
I addressed a letter to a judicious friend, Wasliington, March 1st, 1829, on 
this subject. Lewis, (William B.,) with the assent of the General, given to 
him in my presence, submitted to me the draft of the Inaugural Address. I 
read it over, commented upon it, and was permitted to keep it, in order to 
consider it well, and suggest such alterations as I deemed important. I first 
drafted several alterations, and added my reasons for making them. Not being 
satisfied with that, I wrote the whole over in the form I would have it, and 
returned the three papers. A day or two after I was invited to a conference 
in regard to some of the proposed alterations, which I found had been re-copied, 
and I inferred from this, that the whole in my handwriting had not been sub- 
mitted to the General. There were present the General, Majors Lewis and 
Donelsou. Such parts as were intended to be submitted at this time for my 
opinion were read over, and we discussed the subjects, but with partial success 
on my part, in regard to one criticism which I deemed important — the General 
beliaving with great good sense and frankness, Lewis influenced by the pride of 
authorship, and Donelson fearing the General should fall into my views as to 
a Constitutional question. I then referred to another alteration I had pro- 
posed — a verbal criticism, — but necessary to shield the General from the im- 
putation of not properly distinguishing the improvement of revenue from its 
collection. Here, again, he united with me, as did the others. There was 
a paragraph which was absolute nonsense. I revised it, amended it, and made 
it proper. Here, again, we diifered. Donelson agreed with me that it was 
not gi-ammatical. The General was wholly indifferent, and at length Lewis 
yielded. Several other alterations had been made ; some of them I considered 
quite important, which, however, were not adverted to, and I deemed it prudent 
not to call them up, as I found Lewis' self-love was wounded by what had been 
done already. From all that occurred I was convinced that the heads and 
thoughts were the General's, the clothing Lewis' and Donelson's — most of it 
the work of the former. I will again ask for the paper, and if it is, in my 
judgment, in any respect defective, I will see the General on the subject alone, 
and explain to him my views. I learn that it is hereafter to be submitted to 
us all, as a Cabinet — as it ought most assuredly to be. Lewis will not be 
present, and we will then make it better. Had it gone forth as it at first stood, 
it would have been absolutely disgraceful. As it is, I am not a little anxious 
about it. The General's misfortune is, that his confidence is reposed in men in 
no degree equal to him in natural parts, but who have been of use to him here- 
tofore in covering his very lamentable defects of education ; and as he is un- 
willing to make these defects known to any others, he is compelled to keep 
these gentlemen about him. I have been drawn, by various circumstances, so 
close to him, that time would place me in the same relation to him which Lewis 
now holds. Van Buren never can get there, nor will any other member of his 
Cabinet, because he will not yield himself so readily to superior as to inferior 
minds. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 105 

The following is the address I wrote over in the form I would have it, I 
have endeavored to point out the points of difference between this, and that 
which was delivered. At the same time it is due to truth and to others to say, 
I am quite sure it incorporates much that was in the original draft we dis- 
cussed : 

" Fellow-Citizexs : Aboiat to undertake the arduous duties I have been ap- 
pointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of tliis customary 
and solemn occasion to express the gratitude their confidence inspires, and to 
acknowledge the accountability which my situation enjoins, while the magnitude of 
their interest convinces me that my tlianks cannot be at all commensurate with the 
honor they have conferred. It admonishes me that the best return I can make is, to 
dedicate, as I now do, my humble abilities to their exclusive service and their 
welfare. 

" As the Executive of the Federal Constitution, the duty devolves upon me, for a 
stated period, to execute the laws of the United States: to superintend their foreign 
and confederate relations ; to manage their revenues ; to command their forces, and 
by communications to the Legislature, to watch over and promote their interests 
generally ; and the principles of action by vrhich I shall be governed, iu endeavoring 
to perform these duties, it is now proper for me briefly fo explain. 

"In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the just 
limitation as well as the extent of the Executive power, expecting thereby to dis- 
charge the functions of my office, without, iu the slightest degree, transcending its 
authority. 

" With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace ; to cultivate friendly 
intercourse with all on fair, liberal and honorable terms; and in the adjustment of 
any differences that now do or may liereafter arise, to exhibit the forbearance be- 
coming a powerful nation, rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people. 

"In all such measures as I may be called on to pursue touching the rights of the 
separate States, I hope to be animated by a proper respect for these members of our 
Union, taking care (at the same time) not to confound the rights they have reserved 
to themselves with those they conceded to the Confederacy. 

" The management of the public revenue — that searching operation in all govern- 
ments — is among the most delicate and important trusts. In ours it will of course 
demand no inconsiderable share of my official solicitude. Under every aspect in 
which it can be considered it appears that great advantage must result from the 
enforcement, on all occasions, of a strict and rigid economy. This I shall aim at the 
more anxiously, both because it wmII facilitate the extinguishment of the national 
debt, the unnecessary duration of which is inconsistent with real independence, and 
because it will counteract that tendency to public and individual profligacy which 
a profuse expenditure by the Government is but too apt to engender. Powerful 
auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end are to be found in tlie regulations 
provided by the wisdom of Congress, for the specific appropriation of the public 
money, and the prompt accountability of public ofiicers. 

" With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of imposts, with a view to 
revenue, it seems to me that the spirit of caution and equitable compromise in which 
the Constitution was formed, requires that the great interests of agriculture, com- 



lOG REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

merce and manufacture should be equally favored ; and perhaps the only exception 
to this rule, if we were about to adopt an original course of policy, would be found 
in the peculiar encouragement of such products only of either of them, as might be 
found essential to our national independence. 

" Considering standing armies, in times of peace, as dangerous to free govern- 
ment, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor to disregard that 
salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be 
subordinate to the civil power. 

" The gradual increase of our navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes 
our skill in navigation and our power in arms ; the preservation of our forts, arsenals 
and dockyards, the introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and 
science of both branches of our military forces, are so plainly prescribed by 
prudence, that I should be excused for omitting to mention sooner their importance ; 
but the bulwark of our defence is the national militia, which, in the present state of 
our intelligence and population, must render us invincible. As long as our Govern- 
ment is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will ; as 
long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience and 
the press, it will be worth defending ; and so long as it is worth defending, will a 
patriotic militia cover it with anirapenetrable a^gis. We may be subjected to tem- 
porary injuries and occasional mortification, but a million of armed freemen, pos- 
sessed of tlie means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. Therefore, to 
any just system calculated to strengthen this national safeguard of the country, I 
will cheerfully lend all the aid in my power. 

"It will be my sincere and constant desire .to observe towards the Indian tribes 
within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate 
attention to their rights and their wants, which are consistent with the habits of our 
Government and the feelings of our people. In the performance of a task thus 
generally delineated, I shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will 
insure, in their respective stations, able and faithful cooperation, depending for the 
advancement of the public service more on tlie ability and virtue than on the num- 
ber of its officers. A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications, will 
teach me to look witli reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illus- 
trious predecessors, and with veneration to the light that flowed from the mind 
that founded and that wliich reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me 
to look with confidence for the aid and advice of the co-ordinate branches of the 
Government, and for the indulgence.and support of my fellow-citizens. 

" A firm reliance upon the goodness of that power whose providence mercifully 
protected our national infancy, and has since sustained us in various vicissitudes, 
encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications, that lie will continue to make 
our beloved conntiy the object of His divine care and gracious benediction." 

Shortly before the 4th of March, the General requested me to prepare a 
letter dated on that day, to be addressed to me by him, appointing me Secre- 
tary of State. This was done as follows : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 107 

" WAsnixGTox, March 4, 1829. 
" Sir : You are appointed to take charge of the Department of State and to per- 
form the duties of that oflice until Gov. Van Buren arrives in this city. 

" Your Obt. servant, 

" Andrew Jackson. 

"Addressed James A. Hamilton, of New Yoi-k, Washington." 

This was endorsed at the Department, when it was delivered to the chief 
clerk, Mr. Brent, 4th March, 1829 : 

" Hamilton, Jas. A., appointed Acting Secretary of State." 

This letter was signed and delivered to me on the 4th of March, just be- 
fore the General went to the Capitol. He said, " Colonel, you don't care to 
see me inaugurated?" " Yes, General, I do; I came here for that purpose." 
" No — go to the State House, and as soon as you hear the gun fired, I am 
President, and you are Secretary. Go on and take charge of the Department " 
(I do not state the reason he gave for this haste). 

I went into the Department, sent for the chief clerk, Mr. Brent ; he came 
and said he supposed I came to take his plac9, and that he was ready to give it 
up. I said, " No, Sir ; read my appointment and file it. I am Secretary, I do 
not mean to remove any person ; on the contrary, I wish you and others to give 
me all the assistance you can in the performance of my responsible duties." 

March 4. — I addressed to the Hon. Henry Clay, who resigned the ofiice of 
Secretary of State some days before the inauguration of Jackson, the following 
note : 

" Sir : The President of the United States having appointed me Secretary of State 
during Governor Van Buren's absence, it will afford me great pleasure to call upon 
you whenever you please, that I may receive from yon any iufuraiation which will 
promote tlie public interests. 

" With very great respect, yours, 

"James A. IIamilton." 

March 5. — Mr. Clay called at the Department pursuant to a previous ar- 
rangement, and communicated such information as might be important, viz. : 

" Portugal. — Mr. was received by the government accredited by Don Mignel, 

as Regent. Since Don Miguel assumed the throne in his own right, no instructions 
liave been given to the gentleman, who, however, expects them daily. When he 
has received them, the question will be whether he is to be received as the repre- 
sentative of the government of Portugal. The powers of Europe, whose example is 
not to govern us, liave not received an ambassador from Don Miguel. If he is Sov- 
ereign de facto, that is enough for us." 

" Mexico.— A question may hereafter arise with Mexico, similar to that with the 
last power; and perhaps another, arising out of the ratification of our treaty, should 
it receive the sanction of the present Congress. 

"The force whicli has overturned the legitimate government may not bo sus- 
tained. It is understood that the existing power is more fiivorable to this country 
than the last one. Wm. P 1 lias had leave to return for some time past, but has 



108 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. ^ 

not given notice of his intention to do so. He has been heard from at Vera Cruz on 
his way here. 

" The Treaty of limits is desirable to Mexico, and also to us. The Treaty with 
Spain, settling the boundary line, is sufficient for us; being obligatory on Mexico. 
The Treaty of Commerce lias been ratified by us, but the congress of Mexico struck 
out fifteen or sixteen articles." 

" Geeat Britain.— The submission to the arbitrament of the King of the ISTether- 
lands was agreed to without submitting the choice to the Senate ; there was great 
difficulty in doing so. It icas done in executing a 2}>'ovisi(m of laic, the Treat)/ on 
this suhjcct between the two conntries. If it is believed that such a submiss^iou is 
necessary, and the King of the Netherlands agrees to be the arbiter, a convention 
mny be negotiated with England making him so, which can then be submitted to 
the Senate. This is a subject of much delicacy and difficulty. Our statement with 
proofs and documents, with the manner in which we will authenticate them, has 
been submitted ; a list of the proofs and documents on the other side, has been re- 
ceived and submitted by Mr. Brent to Messrs, Gallatin and Preeble. A correspond- 
ence has been held, here and in London, on the subject of indemnity to Baker, for 
his losses and suflterings ; nothing decided. 

'• The King of the Netherlands feels not well pleased that we have not sent a 
minister to liim, with a corresponding grade with his ; this ought to be rectified." 

"Sweden. — As soon as the arrest of the **=;=* by Capt. Turner at St. 
Bartholomew, was heard of by Baron Stackelbourgh, he demanded an explanation, 
to which a reply was given. See what it Avas. Turner has furnished his statement 
through the Secretary of the Navy. Harrison, American Consul there, has also sent 
a statement of the official correspondence. Captain Taylor of the * * * came 
here with Captain Turner's permission, and presented himself at the Department, 
desiring to know whether he was to be considered a prisoner or not, and claiming 
the provision, in such cases made, and also to know how far he was at liberty to go. 
The answer, with the permission of the President, was : that he was at liberty to go 
where be pleased ; if the vessel was found upon trial to be piratical (she is to be 
tried at Pensacohi), he must hold himself subject to arrest and trial." 

" BuExos Atres has an interest in this matter; she is not represented here. 
The Charge of Sweden has no instructions from his government." 

" Austria. — A Treaty was negotiated between the United States and Austria by 
Mr. Clay and the Consul of Austria at New York ; which the latter, after it was set- 
tled, declined, after some hesitation, to sign, until he received instructions from his 
government. (See Treaty and negotiation)." 

The above was written down as it was related by Mr. Clay. I read it to 
him. lie approved, and then said there are two other subjects, which but for 
this d d non-intercourse, established by the President, I would communi- 
cate to him. Mr. x\.dains will communicate them to you, if requested to do so 
by the President. 

On 6th March, 1829, I addressed and sent to Hon. John Q. Adams, Wash- 
ino;ton, the followino; letter : 

" SiK : A friend has placed in my hands a new edition of the correspondence 
between you and Mr. II. G. Otis and others, published in this city, with additional 



IIEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 109 

papers, said to be illustrative of the subject of that correspondence. Amono- these 
papers is a letter -vvritteu to yon by William Pluraer of New Ilampsliire, dated Ep- 
piug, New Hampshire, December 20th, 1828, in which he says: ' During the lon«^ 
and eventful Session of Congress of 1803 and 1804, I was a member of the Senate, 
and was at Washington every day of that Session. In the course of that Session, at 
ditierent times and places, several Senators and Representatives from the New Eng- 
land States informed me that they thought it necessary to establish a separate gov- 
ernment in New England, and ' if it should bo found practicable ' to extend it so far 
South as to include Pennsylvania, but in all events to establish one in New England, 
&c.' lie adds : ' Just before that Session of Congress closed, one of the gentlemen to 
whom I have alluded, informed me that arrangements had been made to have, the 
next autumn, in Boston, a select meeting of the leading Federalists in New England 
to consider and recommend the measures necessary to form a system of government 
in the Northern States, and that Alexander Hamilton, of New York, had consented 
to attend that meeting.' He further adds : ' The gentlemen who, in the winter of 
1803 and 1804, informed me that there was to be a meeting of Federalists in the 
autumn of 1804, at Boston, at the Session of Congress, or the winter of 1804 and 
1805, observed to me that the death of General Hamilton had prevented that meet- 
ing, but the prospect had not been abandoned, and would not be.' " 

"In your letter, which is a part of this correspondence, dated Washington, De- 
cember 30, 1828, you say : 'It was in these letters of 1808 and 1809 that I mentioned 
the design of certain leaders of the Federal party to effect a dissolution of the Union 
and the establishment of a Northern Confederacy. This design had been formed in 
the winter of 1803 and 1804, immediately after, and as a consequence of, the acquisi- 
tion of Louisiana. Its justifying cause to those who entertained it was, tliat the 
acquisition of Louisiana to the Union transcended the Constitutional powers of the 
Government of the United States.' 'This plan,' you add, ' was so far matured that 
the proposal had been made to an individual to permit himself, at the proper time, 
to be placed at the head of the military movements which it was foreseen would be 
necessary for carrying it into execution. In all this there was no overt act of 
treason.' 

" Without permitting myself to believe that you could countenance any imputa- 
tion against the honor or patiiotism of my late venerated parent, it is obvions that 
the publication of Governor Plumer's letter, and your communication to II, G. Otis 
and others, notonly tends to such imputation, but, moreover, added to it the sanction 
of your name. Under these circumstances, deeming it a sacred duty to preserve the 
memory of my fother from all stain, I must also consider it my right to ask thiit you 
will inform me whether by the publication of Governor Plumer's letter, or by your 
communication to H. G. Otis and others, an opinion is to be authorized that you are 
in possession of any evidence, or that you believe, that the late Alexander Hamilton 
consented to attend the alleged meeting of the leading Federalists at Boston, or that 
he was at any time concerned in a project to dissolve the Union and establish a 
Northern Confederacy ? I beg further to ask, Sir, that if the indication, in the par- 
agraph of your letter last above quoted, of an individual to whom a jiroposal had 
been made to permit himself to be placed at the head of certain military moveaionts, 
refers to my father, you will furnish me with the evidence upon whirh that ii dica- 
tion and reference have been made. 

"I have the honor to be your obd't serv't." 



110 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The following answer was received, dated Washington, March 6, 1829 : 

"James A. IIamilton, Esq., Washington — Sir: In answer to your letter of this 
date, I take the liberty of referring you to Mr. Plumer himself, for any explanation 
of the statements in his letter to me of 20th December last. 

" The information which I received in the spring of 1804, at Washington, was en- 
tirely distinct from and independent of that of Mr. Plomer. A part of it was not that 
your father had consented to be placed at tiie head of the project, or to take a part in 
it, hut that it had been communicated to him with a view to engage his cooperation 
in it, and that in the event of a necessity for the employment of a military force for 
its ex€cutu)n, it was contemplated that he should he placet! at its head. My inform- 
ant, to the best of my recollection, was Mr. Uriah Tracy, then a Senator from Con- 
necticut. I say to the best of my recollection, because at one of my conversations 
with Mr. Tracy on this subject, another member of Congress, also now deceased, 
was present, and 1 am not perfectly sure from which of them it was that I received 
this information. After the close of that session of Congress, being at New York 
on or about the 7th of April, 1804, Mr. Rufus King informed me that a person had 
been that day conversing with him, and also with your father, as I understood Mr. 
King, in favor of the project, but that he himself, and he was happy to say your 
father also, entirely disapproved of it. This is all the evidence I have that your 
father was made acquainted with the project, solicited by others to join in it, or 
intended by tliem to be placed at its head. That he was said to have consented to 
attend a meeting at Boston in the autumn of 1804 stands upon other testimony than 
mine. That he ever assented to the project of a separation I do not know or believe, 
and from the information given me by Mr. King, have reason to believe the contrary. 
With regard to my inferences or belief from the testimony of Mr. Plumer, wishing 
to do all possible justice to the memory of your father, I cheerfully state them at 
your desire. I believe then, implicitly, the statement of Mr. Plumer, as made by 
him, namely : that he was informed at the session of Congress in 1803-4 that your 
father had consented to attend the proposed meeting in the autumn of 1804 at Bos- 
ton, and that in 1804-5 he was informed that the meeting had been prevented by 
your father's decease. I believe also the fact that he had consented to attend the 
meeting ; but from the information given me by Mr. King, I believe that in consent- 
ing to attend the meeting your father's purpose was to dissuade the parties concerned 
from the undertaking, and to prevail upon them to abandon it. My belief is founded 
upon my entire confidence in the veracity of Mr. Plumer, upon the general coinci- 
dence of the information stated in his letter with that which I had cotemporaneously 
received at Washington, and upon the remarkable fact mentioned by him that he was 
told at the subsequent session of Congress, that the autumnal meetiag at Boston had 
failed in consequence of the decease of your father; that the project was continued 
or resumed, notwithstanding your father's decease, until the Hartford Convention in 
1814, I also believe. 

"I had further reason for believing that the project was disapproved by your 
father, because it had originated principally from dissatisfaction at the annexation 
of Louisiana to the Union, — a measure which, from common report, I understood 
was approved by him. 

" I am with respect. Sir, your very humble servant, 

" J. Q. Adams." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. Ill 

I wish here to add, in connection witli Mi*. Adams' letter to rue, it was well 
understood not only that Hamilton approved of the annexation of Louisiana, 
but that when Jefferson doubted whether he had the constitutional power to 
make that annexation, Hamilton addressed a letter to James Madison, then 
Secretary of State, expressing his opinion that the constitutional power was 
clear, and giving his reasons for that opinion. And further, that Hamilton 
shortly before his death expressed to his friends his anxiety for the preservation 
of the Union : to one he said, " To break this Union would break my heart." 
And further, that the last letter he wrote on public affairs was to Theodore 
Sedgwick, once Speaker of the House of Representatives, a distioguished 
eastern Federalist, dated July 10, 1804, in which he says, "I have had on hand 
for some time a long letter to you, explaining my view of the course and 
tendency of our politics, and my intentions as to my own future conduct." 
He here gives his reasons wliy it was not finished, and adds, " I will here 
express but one sentiment, which is, that dismemberment of our Empire will be 
a clear sacrifice of great positive advantages without any counterbalancing 
good; administering no relief to our real disease, which is democracy^ the poison 
of which by a sub-division will only be more concentrated in each part, and conse- 
quently the more virulent. King is on his way for Boston, where you may chance 
to see him and learn from himself his sentiments.'' He died two days afterwards 
by the hand of an assassin. Several other evidences of his disapproval of dis- 
memberment will be found in the 7th volume of the History of the Republic. 

I communicated to the President, what Mr. Clay had stated in reference to 
Mr. Adams, and I was directed to ask an interview with him. I consequently 
addressed the following letter to Mr. Adams : 

" Depabtmest of State, Maech 11, 1829. 
" To THE Hojf. JoHji Q. Adams, Washington. 

" SiK : The Pi-esident of the United States has directed me to call upon yon in re- 
lation to some matters of public concern. I should be pleased to know when I may 
have the honor to be received by j'ou. 

" With great respect, Your obedient Servant, 

" James A. IIamiltox." 

To which I received the following reply: 
"James A. HAMiLTOif, Department of State. 

"Meridian Hill, Washington, March 11, 18291 

" Sir : I shall be happy to receive you this day upon tlie subject to which your 
letter of this morning relates, at tliis place between one and three o'clock. I am, 
with respectful consideration, Your obedient Servant, 

"John Q. Adams." 

March 11, 1829 : I called upon Mr. Adams as he had proposed I should 
do — this day at 2 o'clock. After the usual salutation I said, that at an interview 
I had had with Mr. Clay at my request in relation to the affairs of the Depart- 



112 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ment of State, he bad incidentally mentioned that Mr. Adams held stocks which 
it was proper should be transferred to the President ; and that there were some 
matters of public concern which the public good required shoxild be communi- 
cated to the President, who had directed me to call upon Mr. Adams on the 
subject. Mr. Adams said he held certificates of stock in trust for the Seneca 
nation of Indians to the amount of about $112,000. They amounted to $112,- 
853.75 in the three per cents; that this fund was originally $100,000. It was in- 
vested in the stock of the First Bank of the United States, and having been 
purchased at a price above par, when that bank closed its concerns there was a 
loss. Afterwards it was invested in the six per cents, and as they were paid off, 
there was a loss : the fund was invested by him in the three per cents at about 
eighty per cent., because it was supposed they would not be shortly paid off, and 
when these were it would be at par. He said that the Indians were paid the divi- 
dends upon the bank stock, which were then over 16,000 per annum, and they had 
always been paid that amount per annum (whatever the dividends on the stocks 
were) at the war office, out of the Indian appropriation, and the dividends when re- 
ceived, were carried to the credit of that fund. He also said he held two certificates 
of three per cents, amounting to $5,833.36, which were in the name of William 
Eustis as Secretary of War and his successors in office, in trust for the United 
States to secure an annuity to the Wyandots under the Treaty of July 4, 1805, 
(vide United States, Vol. 1, page 409), which certificates of stock, he said, he 
would deliver to the President upon his order. He further said, " I intended 
lo have delivered in person that book (pointing to a large book of records) to 
the President ; it contains a correspondence I have conducted myself with 

consul at and the instruction I gave him to make a 

treaty with the . As it has been necessary to observe the utmost 

secrecy in this negotiation in order to give us a hope of success, for the British 
ministers at are required as a part of their official business to pre- 
vent us if possible from making any treaty, I have not permitted it to take the 
usual course of the office. No persons know anything of it except Mr. Clay, 
Mr. Brent, Mr. Watkin and a clerk who copied the correspondence, the 
Secretary of the Navy, and a clerk in that department (his chief clerk). I thought 

this the most appropriate time to make the effort, as the ministers were 

absent from . I therefore directed Mr. to make use of Dollars out of 

the Contingent Fund to conduct the negotiation in the manner such people arc 
accustomed to nesrotiate. This sum he was authorized to draw in the ordinary 
course of naval funds, in order that there might be no suspicion on that account, 

but to keep the account distinct. Mr. the at ■ was directed first 

to go to and if he ascertained that a treaty could be made, then to send 

for J and use the utmost dispatch and secrecy. I hoped it would have 

been completed before the session closed. In this book is a correspondence 
commenced by Mr. Monroe, and since continued from time to time, but without 
success. There is another matter of little importance as to the purchasing lands 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 113 

for Indians, " This is all ; I am ready to deliver the book, on the President's 
order." I then said, "Mr. Brent told me you had that book, and that you in- 
tended to make a communication in writing. If that is so, it would be well to 
leave the book with you." He answered, " I do not think, that necessary now, 
after this conversation ; I will, however, keep it until Mr. Van Buren arrives, 
or, if it should be necessary, in consequence of dispatches received from ■, 

I will deliver it up. I emj)loyed to take out the dispatches. He was 

unfortunately detained by a Quarantine for thirty days." After this conver- 
sntion on public aifairs had closed, I waited for a few moments to ascertain if he 
would introduce the subject of our recent correspondence. I thenrose and took my 
leave, shaking him by the hand. I saw when I was about to leave that he was 
disappointed and displeased. I therefore, after I had closed the outer door, re- 
turned, knocked, asked pardon for returning, and said, " I came back to speak 
to you upon a subject of an interesting character." He said, " Sit down, apology 
is unnecessary." I then told him what Coleman had written to me as to my 
father's opinion in relation to the annexation of Louisiana. He said, " I un- 
derstood at the time your father wrote the article to which you refer. He, 
Mr. King, and I, were the only Federalists of the day who approved of that 
measure." He then gave me a detailed account of his course in the Senate and 
particularly in relation to the proposed amendment of the Constitution, in order 
to enable the President (not to make the Treaty, or to take possession of the 
soil — of his power to do that there was no doubt) * '" * but to incorporate ilic people 
into the Union, giving them the same privileges with the people of the United 
States, without the sanction of the latter and subjecting the former to the rule of 
the United States without their consent. However, although Mr. Jefferson en- 
tertained doubts as appears from his letter to recently published, of which 

doubts I knew nothing at the time, I found he had taken the necessary measures 
to complete the annexation regardless of the Constitutional question. I then 
told him that I had been informed by Mr. Tazewell, that he understood at the 
time Hamilton's opinion as to the Constitutional power of the Government to 
complete that work as it was done, had been communicated to Mr. Jefferson or 
Mr. Madison, and had in a great measure tended to remove those doubts. Mr. 
Adams, then referring to our recent correspondence, said, " I knew nothing of Mr. 
Plumer's testimonv when I made the first communication to the Intellisrencer in 
October. He was a volunteer choosins to inculpate himself in order to afford 
his testimony to the truth. He wrote to me, that, seeing I was to be called 
upon by the Eastern Federalists, he had thought proper to state what he had 
done." Mr. Adams then repeated to me the conversation he had with Mr. King 
in April, 1804, which he had referred to in his letter (above copied). He added, 
" Your Father had nothing to do with the project. He discountenanced it. ' 
I then stated in confirmation of his opinion in regard to my father's disajipro- 
bation of the project, that he had written a letter to George Cabot on the sub 
ject, in which he expressed his most decided disapprobation of the alleged iuten 

8 



114 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

tion of bis Eastern friends. We shook hands and parted, on his part with evi- 
dent satisfaction, for, as he believed he had done ample justice (and so it was, 
though tardy) to my father, he thought himself entitled to an acknowledgment 
of that fact from me. Mr. Adams was an honest man ; but he was a man of 
strong feelings, perhaps I may justly say resentments. 

A Letter to a FraEND. 

Department of State, March 6, 1829. 

" I have been engaged to-day in receiving the Diplomats who arc in the city 
and reading their notes. I am in good earnest in the very heax't of the business of ' 
the Department. No part of it is half so laborious as the applications for office." 

On the 5th of March, 1829, I prepared the following message for the 
President : 

" Gentlemex of the Senate : The Offices of Secretary of State, Secretary of 
the Treasury, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy and Attorney-General of the 
United States being vacant, I nominate the following persons for these offices : 
Martin Yau Burea of the State of New York, to be Secretary of State ; Samuel D. 
Ingham of P-^nnsylvania, to be Secretary of the Treasury; John IT. Eaton of Ten- 
nessee, to DC Secretary of War ; John Branch of North Carolina, to be Secretary of 
the Navy ; John McPherson Berrian of Georgia, to be Attorney-General of the 

United States. 

(Signed) Andrew Jackson." 

Washington, March 5, 1829. 

On the 5th of March, 1829, I addressed the following letter to the Presi- 
dent : 

"James A. Hamilton has the honor respectfully to submit to the President of the 
United States, that a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was concluded and signed 
at Washington on the 1st of May, 1828, between the United States and the King of 
Prussia, and laid before the Senate, who, by their resolution of that month, advised 
and consented to its ratification. Tiiat by the 4th article thereof it was agreed, 
that the exchange of the respective ratifications should be made within 4 months 
from the date of the Treaty. 

" That on the 15th of January last, the Charge d' Affaires for Prussia informed 
the Secretary of State that he had received the Prussia ratification, and was ready 
to exchange it for that of tlie United States. That tlie Secretary of State, on the 
day of the same month, apprised the Charge d'Affiiires of Prussia of the Presi- 
dent's intention not to proceed to the exchange proposed by him, in consequence of 
the expiration of the term stipulated for the exchange by the terms of the Treaty. 
"In his opinion, it is most expedient, under the circumstances, to submit the 
question whether the proposed exchange should now be made to the Senate for 
their advice. (Signed) James A. Hamilton." 

Department of State, March 5, 1829. 

The President concurred in opinion with the Secretary, and directed him 
to prepare a message to the Senate, which was as follows : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 115 

" Gentlemen op the Senate : The Treaty of Commerce and Navigation con- 
cluded at Washington on the 1st of May, 1828, between the Halted States and the 

King of Prussia, was on the day of tlie same month ratified, and presented 

to your advice and consent, by the President of the United States. By the 4th 
article, it was agreed that the exchange of the ratifications should be made witliin 

four months from its date. On the 15th of February last, being days after the 

time stipulated by the terms of the Treaty, the Charge d'Affaires of his Majesty 
informed the Secretary of State that he had received the Prussia ratification, and 
was ready to exchange it for that of the United States. Under the circumstances, 
I have thought it my duty, in order to avert all future question, to ask the advice 
and counsel of the Senate as to the proposed exchange." 

The Senate advised the exchange, which was promptly made by the Secre- 
tary in behalf of the United States and Charge d'Affaires of Prussia ; the J 
latter intimating that he was prepared to make the accustomed present tlfthe I 
Secretary, to which the latter replied, that tha^^st3m~l?irn^Tec^mzed by 
his Government. " """"' ' ^' 

/ The following Address to the Foreign Ministers was prepared by the Secre- 

tary, and delivered by the President : 

" I am happy that an occasion has presented itself which enables me to reiterate 
to you. Gentlemen, respectively, the sentiments expressed in that part of my In- 
augural Address relating to the foreign policy of this Government, and to add that 
I am quite sure the true interests of this country will be best promoted by preserv- 
ing the relations of peace with all nations, so long as that can be done with a due 
regard to its own honor ; and by commercial intercourse founded on principles of 
just reciprocity. I have entered. Gentlemen, upon the high trusts committed to me 
without prejudice against, or undue partialities towards any nation or people, and 
with personal feelings of the most friendly character for all. Altliough actuated by 
a determined purpose to promote the best interests of my own country, I have no 
desire to impair the rights or interests of others, and will endeavor to eftect that 
object by the most frank, friendly and sincere negotiation. Where differences exist 
or may hereafter arise, it will be my desire to settle them on fair and honorable 
terms, in that spirit of frankness so congenial to my nature, and the character of 
this people." 

The Ministers present were, Hon. Charles Vaughan, British Minister; 
Baron Krudner, Russian Minister; Joaquim Campino, Chilian Minister ; and 
the Charges of Mexico and Brazil. 

On the 9th of March, the Secretary prepared and sent to the President the 
following communication : 

" The Acting Secretary of State has the honor respectfully to report to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, all the information in this Department of what has been 
done to carry into effect the first article of the Convention between the United 
States and the British Government, concluded at London on the 29th of September, 
1827, a printed copy whereof accompanies this Eeport. 

" The ratifications of this convention were exchanged at London, on the 2d April, 



11 G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

1828. By instruction of this Government to Mr. W. B. Lawrence, Charg6 d'Affaires 
at tlie Court of St. James, dated February 20th, 1828, (copy annexed) he was 
required to proceed to the fulfilment of the first article of the Treaty. In pursuance 
of Lis instructions, after various interviews with Lords Dudley and Aberdeen, on 
the 14th of June, they agreed upon the King of the Netherlands as the arbiter, and 
on the 19th of the same month, it was determined between Mr. Lawrence and Lord 
Aberdeen, that the comnmnication to the selected Sovereign should be made by the 
Ministers of the United State-! and Great Britain in separate notes addressed to his 
Minister of Foreign Aflairs. The text of the note to be used by the respective gov- 
ernments in making that communication was submitted by the British Government, 
communicated to this Government, and in malcing that communication, on our port, 
copies of these notes, and the instructions to Mr. Hughes, Oliarge d'Affaires of the 
United States at the Hague, are annexed. 

" No information has as yet been received at this Department whether his Nether- 
lands Majesty has accepted this arbitrament or not. By the instructions referred to, 
it will be perceived that the choice fell upon the last named Sovereign, who was 
least desirable to this Government to be the arbitrator. Under these circumstances, 
the course of this Government, in my opinion, ought to be directed by the antici- 
pation that the King of the Netherlands will accept the trust confided to him; and 
every measure on our part ought to be tried, at least, to secure to us his f ivorable 
consideration. 

'• The King of the Netherlands, for about four years past, has been represented 

near tliis Government by a Minister Plenipotentiary, and during the same time the 

United States has been, and still is, represented by the inferior grade of Charge 

d'Affaires, thus subjecting that Court to the mortifying reflection of being esteemed 

by us as a Secondary Power. Although, as to the personal character and habits of 

his Netherlands majesty, we have a right to believe he will himself examine the 

statements and arguments of the respective parties, and the representations which 

may be made in regard to them by the officers of liis government who may be 

charged with the subject, yet it may reasonably be supposed that much would be 

igained by the assiduity of a judicious envoy. I find it was contemplated by the 

Tate President at a proper time to send Judge Pi-eble, who is perfect master of the 

whole subject, as an agent of this Government to Brussels and to the Hague, in 

order that he may give such explanation as may be required by the arbiter in the 

course of his examination. Under the circumstances, I am clearly of the opinion 

that it would be proper to send a Minister Plenipotentiary to represent the United 

States Government at that Court. 

March 9. IMy Journal of this date states, that I submitted to the President 
a report on the subject of sending a minister to the Netherlands, with the draft 
of a message to be sent to the Senate. This report, I do not find among my 
papers. I concluded by expressing a very decided opinion that a minister ought 
to be S3nt. The President agreed with mc in this opinion when we examined 
the subject. My journal proceeds : 

" In the evenmg, the President consulted Mr. Tazewell, who has manifested a dis- 
appri bationof such a measure for a long time, from some hidden motive. It is sup- 
posed from an apprehension that Hughes would be made the minister. (lie is Samuel 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 117 

Smith's son-in-law.) Tazewell expressed to me the opinion that the arhitrament is all 
a pretence on the part of the British Government adopted in order to avoid collision, 
and to protract the discussion with the late administration, having determined not 
to make a treaty or arrangement with us of any kind. The President influenced hy 
Tazewell's opinion (he is chairman of the committee of Foreign Eelations), decided 
not to make a communication to the Senate (in that he was right, for reasons which 
will be given hereafter), and also decided not to send a minister. 

'■'•March 10. This determination the President communicated to me this day, and 
desired me to call upon General Smith in order to make his decision known to him in 
the least unpleasant manner I could. I called at his lodgings. He, not remembering 
me, was not rude, but he was not cordial, until I told him, I was Secretary of State, 
and came to him hy direction of the President ; when, supposing I had intelligence 
of a pleasing nature to communicate, he relaxed into the utmost complacency. I 
then told him that his communication in reference to Hughes hf^d been put into my 
hands by the President; that, after much deliberation and advising with his Cabinet, 
he had reluctantly, owing in a great measure to his (Gen'l S.'s) long and valuable 
service, his great respect for an old and much esteemed friend, come to the deter- 
mination at^^reae^ninot to send a minister to the Hague. That his solicitude on this 
subject was increased by the favorable, and, he had no doubt, just manner in which 
he had heard the character and talents of Mr. Hughes spoken of; but that it was 
impossible for him to change a course of policy which he had deliberately adopted 
in order to yield to his feelings and ijredilections, 

" Smith replied at first with haughtiness, ' That he could not ask the President to 
alter his course from considerations of regard to him,' and after a pause added, ' I 
trust that a gentleman who has faithfully served his country for twelve years, and 
in so doing has materially impaired his fortune, will not be superseded.' I then 
repeated that I was authorized to say, that the President hoped to have it in his 
power at some future day, on some proper occasion to manifest the regard he had 
for him, and his confidence in Mr. Hughes. Mr. Smith then said, ' I suppose, he 
will send hini to Spain ? ' I replied, I do not know. Gen. Smith went into a long 
account of Hughes' services, his influence with great personages in England, and his 
extensive correspondence. I then asked him merely for my own information, and 
to turn the conversation, a question in relation to our trade with Portugal. He 
took it up, and went through the whole subject, and supposing I had put the ques- 
tion to intimate the probability of a mission, said ' I will go to Portugal.' He then 
related to me Mr. Munroe's conduct towards him, when he pushed through an 
appropriation for a minister to Portugal, in appointing Gen. Dearborn to that place. 
* * * I called the same evening on the President, and communicated the result of 
my interview, which gave him much pleasure." 

The acting Secretary prepared the following message to the Senate, for the 
President, on the 9th of March : 

" Gentlemex of the Se:n-ate. I transmit to the Senate, a copy of the instructions 
to the Charge d'Affiiires at London, w^hich led to a negotiation between him and the 
minister of Foreign Affairs of his Britannic Majesty concerning the reference, provid- 
ed for by the convention between the United States and Great Britain of tha — day 

of , 1828, of the points of diffL-rence between the two governments in 

relation to the North-eastern boundary line of the United States, and which re- 



118 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

suited in the designation of the King of the Netherlands as the Sovereign 
arbiter for the settlement of these differences, together with the copy of a dispatch 
from Mr. Lawrence to the Department of State, which, with its enclosures, Avill make 
the Senate fully acquainted with the proceedings referred to : and I transmit likewise 
to the Senate, a copy of the dispatch to the Charge d'Affaires of the 
United States at Brussels, instructing him to unite with the British repre- 
sentative at the same court, in making known to the Kiug of the Netherlands the 
selection which had thus been made of him, and in requesting him to undertake the 
proposed mediation. To this dispatch no answer has as yet been received from Mr. 
Hughes, and it is consequently not known whether the King of the Netherlands has 
or has not consented to employ his good ofSces upon the occasion- but there is 
reason to believe, from the friendly relations in which he stands to both parties 
concerned, that he will have agreed to their wishes. 

" With this view of the circumstances of the case, I submit to the consideration of 
the Senate the whole transaction, particularly in regard to the proper reference to 
the King of the Netherlands, and conclude by nominating to the Senate, * * * * of 
Maine, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to 
the King of the Netherlands, and ****** of * * * as Secretary 
of Legation to the same court." 

Report of the Acting Secretary to the Pkesidext on the Treaty with 

Mexico. 

"James A. Hamilton, acting Secretary of State, has the honor to submit to the 
President of the United States, That a Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation 
between the United States and Mexico, was concluded at Mexico, on the 14th of 
February, 1828. The Senate advised, and consented by resolution on the 1st of 
May, 1828, to its ratification. But Mr. Poinsett by his dispatch, dated May 21, 
1828, informed the department that the Mexican Congress had adjourned without 
having ratified the Treaty. No intelligence has been received of its having been 
subsequently ratified. That a Treaty of limit between the United States and Mexico 
was concluded, and signed at Mexico, on the 12th of January, 1828 ; received at this 
Department on the IGth of April, following; laid before the Senate of the United 
States. By their resolution of the 28th of the same month, the Senate advised and 
consented to its ratification. That this treaty was ratified by Mexico, on the 25th 
of ApriL 

" That by the 5th article of the treaty, it was agreed that the ratifications thereof 
by the respective parties should be exchanged within four months from the date 
thereof. That on the 2d of August, 1828, the minister of Mexico apprised the 
Secretary of State, of his having received the Mexican ratification, and of his readi- 
ness to proceed to the exchange. He was informed that the President was not at 
liberty to proceed to exchange the ratification after the expiration of the period 
provided for the exchange. This treaty must therefore be submitted to the Senate 
again for its advice and counsel. 

" James A. Hamilton." 
"Department of State, March 9, 1829." 

Ilarch 15. The President desired me to report to him, the course to be taken 
to check the horrible piracies of which accounts were given in the newspapers 
■of the day. On the 19th of March, the following report was made : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 119 

" To THE President of the United States. — Sir : I have the honor to enclose 
herewith copies of the papers I submitted to you on the 15th inst., on the subject 
of recent piracies committed upon our commerce near Ilavana and Matanzas, and 
in doing so, I take the liberty most respectfully to suggest the propriety of your 
sending those papers to the Secretary of the Navy, requesting him to report to the 
President, the number and force of vessels comprising our squadron in those seas, and 
the instructions of its Commandant ; and particularly what additional suitable vessels 
could be most promptly fitted out for this service, if more are required. It is due 
to humanity, the interests of our citizens, and the honor of the government, imme- 
diately to take the most efficacious means to su]>press these atrocities. I would 
further suggest the propriety of calling upon the Head of the same Department to 
prepare with more deliberation than the pressure of his arduous duties will now 
permit him to do — a system of measures, which, by being established, and continued, 
will effectually prevent a recurrence of these offences. James A. Hamilton." 

" Department of State." 

Journal, March 17tb. The President was much gratified. Adopted what 
I proposed; desired me to write a letter for him to the Navy Department, and -' 
is taking strong measures. 

The most important subject of negotiation, in which I had the good fortune 
to be engaged, during the short period I was charged with the duties of the 
Department of State (one month), was with the British Minister, in relation to 
depredations upon the disputed territory, in regard to which there was an under- 
standing between the governments, that neither party should exercise acts of 
ownership therein, while the title remained unsettled. 

A letterwas addressed to J. A. Hamilton as Secretary of State, on the 7th of 
March, 1829, by the British Minister, to which an answer was to be given. 
The Secretary well knew that during the recent Presidential canvass, the public 
mind had been abused by the representations of those opposed to General 
Jackson, that should he be elected, he would take the first occasion that should 
occur, to rush the United States into a war with Great Britain. This was 
the first communication received from that Government, and the circumstances 
were as follows : 

The Governor of Massachusetts had represented to President Adams, that 
extensive depredations had been made upon the disputed territory, by the inhabi- 
tants of New Brunswick. This was very properly made the ground of a complaint 
by Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State (in January, 1829), wliich the British 
Minister referred to Sir Howard Douglass, who made a thorough examination, 
and in reply to Mr. Vaughan, he declared that if such depredations had been 
committed, they were without authority. He added on the contrary, " I assure 
you there is no color of authority for such proceedings ; and that every caution 
has been adopted to restrain and prevent them," and stating what effective meas- 
ures he had taken " to insure the strictest observance of his instructions to 
that end." When this communication was received, the Secretary determined 
that thus was presented to the President a good opportunity to disabuse the 



v^ 



120 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

public mind ; and to give an assurance of the spirit in ■which his negotiations 
with Great Britain and other powers would be conducted. 

The acting Secretary, before he communicated the British Minister's note 
to the President, prepared the reply he deemed proper. He then called upon 
the President, read the letter and documents, talked the matter over with him 
and read the reply he had prepared, which the President took up, read over and 
said : That, Colonel, is the very thing, it is a just expression of my purposes; 
I am thankful to you for having taken this opportunity to show how vilely I 
have been misrepresented." The reply is as follows : 



To THE Eight Honorable Charles Kicharb Vaughan, M. P. from Great 

Britain. 

" Depaetment of State, Washington, March 11, 1829. 

" Sir : I liave received and laid before the President of the United States, the 
note with its enclosures, which you did me the honor to Avrite me on the 7th of this 
month; in answer to a representation made to you by Mr. Clay, on tlie 9th of 
January last, at the instance of the Governor of Massachusetts, concerning depreda- 
tions complained of by liim, au^ainst inhabitants of the Province of Kew Brunswick, 
in cutting timber, preparing lumber for market, and erecting mills npon soil of the 
Territory in dispute between the United States and Great Britain ; and I am directed 
by the President to state in reply, as I take much pleasure in doing, that he derives 
great satisfaction from the infoi'ination contained in your communication, as he es- 
pecially perceives in the energetic and prompt measures adopted by Sir Howard 
Douglass, Lieutenant Governor of the Province in question, and detailed in the in- 
closures referred to, a pledge of the same disposition, on the part of the autliori- 
ties of that Province, which animates this G-overnment, to enforce a strict observance 
of the understanding between the two governments, that the citizens or subjects of 
neither shall exercise any acts of ownership in the disputed Territory, while the 
title to it remains unsettled. 

"I will lose no time in making known to the Governors of Massachusetts and Maine, 
the measures which have been thus adopted by the Lieutenant Governor of New 
Brunswick, to repress and punish the irregularities comj^lained of by the former, 
and to guard against their re-occurrence, and will at the same time inform their Ex- 
cellencies of the just and confident expectation entertained by the President, that 
the conciliatory understanding or arrangement between the two governments of the 
IJnited States and Great Britain, already referred to, should not be disturbed by 
the citizens of these two States. 

" I am directed likewise, by the President, to use this first occasion of an official 
communication with you, under his orders, to x*equest the favor of you to make 
known to your Government, the sincere regret which he feels at the existence of 
any difference or misunderstanding between the United States and Great Britain, 
upon the subject matter of this letter or any other whatever ; and in all the mea- 
sures which may be adopted on his part toward their adjustment, he will be entirely 
actuated and governed by a sincere desire to promote the kindest and best feelings 
on both sides ; and to secure the mutual and lasting interest of the parties. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 121 

" I pray you, sir, to accept the renewed assurance of the high and distinguished 
consideration with which I have the honor to he, 

" Your obedient and humble servant, 

"James A. Hamilton, 
"Acting Secretary of State." 

Mr. Vauglian, afterwards Sir Charles, had evidently been so strou^ly 
impressed with the opinion, so generally entertained by the Officials of the late 
administration in Washington, that when he received the above letter, he 
called at the Department to express to me, personally, the gratification my 
reply had given to him; he added — "as he was assured it would give to Lis 
government." 

I intimated to Mr. Vaughan, that he was agreeably disappointed, inasmuch 
as he had been led to believe that a very difi"erent temper would have been 
manifested. He replied : " I admit it, and attribute the present mood to you." 
I said, "wo;" when I suggested to the President the reply that ought to be 
given to your note, he said, " certainly, that is what I want to do." In conse- 
quence of the gratification expressed by the British minister with this letter, 
it was represented very generally in Maine, that I had given up the whole 
boundary question to Great Britain. Indeed, letters of inquiry on the subject 
were addressed to the President, which he showed me — one, I think, from Judge 
Preble. The answer to him was a copy of the above letter. 

The Hon. Albert Grallatin, who, with Mr. Preble of Maine, was employed 
Iby the government to draw up the argument on the part of the United States, 
came to Washington and to the Department to be informed as to what had 
been done. The acting Secretary had never before met this distinguished diplo- 
matist. The answer to his inquiry was given by putting into his hand the 
recorded letter to Mr. Vaughan. He read it with earnestness, and putting 
down the volume said, "What a gross perversion ! It is just the reply that 
should have been given." After some conversation on the subject of the arbi- 
trament, the character of the King of the Netherlands, and the propriety of our 
being properly represented at his court, when the question to be decided should 
be submitted to him, Mr. Gallatin (I quote from my journal) said, " With 
your permission I will relate a circumstance that occurred when I was first ap- 
pointed by Mr. Jefferson as Secretary of the Treasui-y, which will interest you." 
I, of course, expressed a wish to hear him. Mr. Gallatin, " You know I 
succeeded your father as Secretary of the Treasury." James A. Hamilton,— 
"No! Mr. Wolcott succeeded him." Mr. Gallatin,— « True !—Wolcott 
was appointed when your father resigned, to carry out his plans un- 
der his directions. Shortly after my appointment, Mr. Jefferson said to me, 
' Gallatin, your most important duty will be to examine the accounts, all the 
letters and records of your Department, in order to discover the blunders and 
frauds of Hamilton, and to ascertain what changes may be required to reform 
the system — this is a most important duty ; it will require all your industry and 



122 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

acuteness, and to do it tliorouglily, you may employ wliatever extra force may 
be recj[uired.' Yoti know well what the state of parties was at that time, and I 
must say, I went to the work with good appetite. The work was performed most 
thoroughly, occupying much time. All the accounts and correspondence were 
carefully examined, and thus I became master of the whole system and all its 
details. When finished, I went to Mr. Jefferson and said to him, ' Mr. Presi- 
dent, I have, as you directed me to do, made a most thorough examination of 
all ' the books, accounts and correspondence of my department, from its com- 
mencement.' The President, with some eagerness, interrupted me, saying : 
' Well, Grallatin, what have you found ? ' I answered him, ' I have found the 
most perfect system ever formed, and any change that should be made, would 
only injure it — Hamilton made no blunders, committed no frauds — he did 
nothing wrong.' I think Mr. Jefferson was disappointed. It affords me much 
pleasure to make this communication to the son of that illustrious man." 

I arose, took Mr. Gallatin's hand, and thanked him most heartily. This 
was the writer's first acquaintance with Mr. Gallatin, who retired with the under- 
standing that he would call upon me again. He did so, and I was very much 
impressed with the acutenec-s and profound knowledge of European affairs mani- 
fested by this veteran diplomatist. The next day he addressed the following 
note to me : 

"Dear Sir: If you have any New York papers that contain the last European 
accounts, I would thank you to send one to me. I feci interested in the fate of the 
bill for the Catholic emancipation. 

" KespectfuUy yours, 

" Albert Gallatin." 

The following statement may be properly presented here : 
Mr. Gallatin, in his first report to Congress, approvingly referred to Mr. 
Hamilton's Funding System thus : 

" That the actual revenues of the Union are sufficient to defray all the expenses, 
civil and military, of the Government to the extent authorized by existing laws, to 
meet all the engagements of the Government of the United States, and to discharge 
in fifteen and a half (15.V) years the whole of our public debt." 

This Report was sent to Mr. Jefferson, then President, and he addressed a 
letter to Mr. Gallatin, saying : 

"I have read and considered your Report on the operations of the Sinking Fund, 
and entirely approve it as the best plan on which we can set out." 

Further, Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to John W. Eppes, June 24, 1813, writes : 

"It is a wise rule and should be fundamental in a Government disposed to 
cherish its credit and at the same time to restrain the use of it within the limits of 
its faculties, never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax at the same instant for 
paying the interest annually and the principal within a given term, and to consider 
that tax as pledged to the creditors as the public faith," 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 123 

Jefferson, in bis " Ana " dated February 14, 1818, speaking of Hamilton's 
financial system, said : 

"It bad two objects, 1st. ' as a puzzle to exclude popular understanding and in- 
quiry ; 2d. * as a macbine for tbe corruption of tbe Legislature.' " 

Mr. Gallatin, wbo bad tborougbly examined tbis system witb a good appe- 
tite to find it fraudulent, informed bim, wbo wrote tbe above, tbat be found " tbe 
most perfect system ever formed," and tbat " any cbange tbat sbould be made 
would only injure it. Hamilton did notbing wrong." 

Journal, IMarcb 18, 1829. — Tbe President by note requested me " to make 
a synopsis of our foreign relations as to commerce, navigation, and friendsbip," 
and, also, " to give bim tbe names of our ministers of every grade ; our consuls 
and commercial agents, and tbeir places of residence." 

I found tbis a work of great labor, of wbicb I am sure tbe President bad 
no idea. I went at it, and worked nigbt and day, being determined to finisb 
before Van Buren sbould take office, wbicb I did. A copy now before me, com- 
prises one bundred pages of cap, and gives a detailed statement of tbe various 
treaties between tbe United States and France, G-reat Britain, Russia, 8pain, 
Portugal, Netberlands, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Naples, Austria, Hanseatic 
Cities, Mexico, Columbia, Federation of tbe centre of Soutb America and 
Brazil, Supplemental Report Nortb-Eastern Boundary. (See Appendix A.) 

J. A. Hamilton to a friend in New York. 

Washington, April 2oth, 1829. 

" Yesterday wben I communicated to Van Buren tbe President's decision in favor 
of Swartwout as Collector, and of Hamilton as District Attorney, be (Van Buren) 
was as mucb distressed by tbe latter as tbe former, or nearly so at least ; the latter 
increased his deep regret at the former, not from any want of regard for Hamilton, 
or from a doubt that be would ultimately be appointed ; but because he feared an 
unfavorable political effect. Swartwout was odious ia New York, and Hamilton 
was a Federalist, and son of the leader of tbe Federal party. Tiiese two appoint- 
ments might induce a doubt of Van Buren's influence witb bis chief. He anxiously 
wished Hamilton to call upon the President and state to him the bad party effect of 
these two appointments. This Hamilton declined to do, for reasons be gave. It 
produced an interesting conversation. In the afternoon Van Buren said to Hamil- 
ton, 'You will have to go' to New York very soon,' and be wrote to bis son John to 
hasten here on that account. In a letter to Cambreling on tbe subject, be put in a 
P. S., which he first submitted to Hamilton for bis approval. ' The President has 
this day appointed Hamilton District Attorney. Tbis was done voluntarily by the 
President, without any conversation with me on the subject.' Van Buren's object 
was to prove to his political friends that he was not at all responsible and indeed had 
nothing to do witb Hamilton's appointment. I confess I was greatly surprised at 
tbis. I knew Van Buren wanted Hamilton here to assist bim. He first suggested 
tbat he sbould be his chief clerk, and next that be should be appointed Comptroller 
in the Treasury Department. Van Buren was surprised because, although bis ap- 
pointment had been intimated to bim by Lewis long before, be bad not made up bis 



124 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

mind that the appointment would be injurious to him from its unpopularity, imtil 
after it was made. Hamilton replied to the remark made by Mr. Van Buren as to 
Hamilton's going to New York at once. ' He did not consider that necessary imme- 
diately,' and thus that was left ; the remark as to Hamilton going to New York, was 
evidently the result of disappointment, and savored of ill temper. Hamilton told 
the President this morning that he wished to be permitted to remain here a little 
longer, because Mr. Van Buren desired him to do so. That it was best ; this was 
assented to. Thus this matter stands." 

Van Buren, during the early period of life, struggled professionally and 
politically with men who were decidedly superior to him by their social position, 
their education and talents ; but very inferior to him in uprightness of charac- 
ter. He was thus tauo-ht to believe that he must husband all those circum- 
stances which would promote his success. I knew him well during that period, 
and much better afterwards. I have the recollection of hearing of his doing a 
generous action. He was a man of great sagacity, of good temper, and winning 
manners. 
/> The events here related prove that he called upon me to serve him, and that 
I did render him essential services, and he certainly never rendered me a service 
of any hind that I am aware of. 

The following letter, written by Major William Lewis, tends to prove that 
he was not as mindful of services rendered to him or as true to his best friends 
as he ou2;lit to have been : 



o 



William B. Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, April 10, 1839. 

" My deae Sie : Yours of the past month was received several days ago. As you 
say, I have no doubt there is a strong desire to get rid of Campbell, Lewis and some 
others here. But whether they will venture upon so hazardous an experiment as 
that of proscribing, and dismissing from office, men for opinion saTce merely, is doubt- 
ful. However, desperate men become reckless of consequences, and there is no tell- 
ing what they may do in cases referred to. Having determined not to leave my 
office unless I am superseded by order of the President (' Van Buren ') I shall con- 
tinue at my post without turning either to the right or to the left. Since the rumors 
to which you refer first reached me, I have not been near the President, nor shall I 
visit him until I know his determination, and even then it is doubtful whather I do. 
That will depend on circumstances. I cannot say whether he ever intended to re- 
move me, hwtllcnow that he allowed such a proposition to be made, to him, and have 
reason to lelieve he has had it under consideration. The chief magistrate of a nation 
who could listen even to such a proposition in relation to one who had done so much, 
or more perhaps than any other person, to place him where he is, has no right to 
expect either the friendship or future support of that individual. I repeat, there- 
fore, that our future relations will depend entirely upon the fact, as to whether he 
ever encouraged those who urged my removal to expect their importunities would 
be complied with. In conclusion, I will say that he has no just ground of complaint 
with regard to me. If cither party has a right to complain, I am sure you will ad- 
mit with me that I am that party, and not the President." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 125 

The following letter, from C. C. Cambreliug, a member of the House of 
Representatives, is suggestive as to the extent of the business of my office. 
It is without date, but is endorsed " u4^;r//." 

"Dear Hamilton: I hand you the enclosed letters, and ask your best attention 
to them. I wish, you to attend to the following matters and things : 

"1. Look after Ooddington's interests. 

" 2. "W. S. Coe and Abraham E. King as Appraisers. 

" 3. Look at Hinman's letters enclosed. He is a first-rate Eepublican. 

"4. Hand the enclosed letter of Coe to the Secretary of the Treasury, and the 
memorial to the General, or to Mr. Ingham, as you may think best. 

"5. If our new Secretary of the Navy issues any midshipmen's warrants, get 
one for Francis E. Brany, of Bristol, Pennsylvania. I have written to Mr. Branch 
about it. Yours, sincerely." 

Swartwout's appointment was opposed by the leading friends of General 
Jackson and Mr. Van Buren in New York. Mr. Van Buren opposed it most 
earnestly ; and that he might be understood not to be at all responsible for it, 
he made a statement in writing of his reasons, which were of a personal cha- 
racter, for opposing the appointment, and gave it to the President after the 
appointment was made, to be kept by him in memoriam. After a year or two, 
the President returned the paper to Mr. Van Buren, saying, " I return this 
paper to you because time has proved that your opinion of Mr. Swartwout's 
unfitness for the office was a mistake." 

Never was there a worse appointment, either in a personal or party view. 
I was anxious, and so stated to the President, that Thompson should be re- 
tained. He understood the duties of the office, and performed them most 
satisfactorily. Mr. Swartwout had not a single quality of mind, education, or 
character, to entitle him to the office. He had uo political influence. His 
brother, General Swartwout, was once Navy Agent, and had been removed as a 
defaulter. 

The two following letters, written by Mr. Jesse Hoyt, are given as specimen 
letters to guide other applicants who consider themselves as entitled to the 
rewards for personal services, and the honor of public office : 

" New York, March 8, 1829. 
" To James A. Hamilton : 

"Mx Dear Sie: I returned from Albany a day or two since, and Avas surprised 
to hear that the same effort was on foot tliat had been put in motion then, to 
save Mr. John Duer from the fate that public expectation considers as awaiting all 
those who had contributed to sustain thofe whom the people have thought un- 
worthy of confidence. I believe I am perfectly acquainted with the situation in 
which you are placed on this subject, and it is due to the regard I entertain for you 
to apprise you that lam a candidate for the office. I have not taken this step witii- 
out tlie advice of friends here, and not without a perfect conviction tljat 'Mv. Duer's 
removal is called for by tlie sufferers in 1824 (Adams was made President) as well 



12G EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

as the victors in 1828. Whatever may be yonr partiality for Mr. Diier and some 
of his friends who have acted with you for the last few years, I think you will 
admit the very great injustice of leaving him in possession of so valuable an office, 
after all that luxs taken place within your personal knowledge. Laying out of view 
any personal considerations, I hazard nothing in saying that the policy of retaining 
any of the old levers in power will but too surely tend to dampen all ardor and 
energy hereafter. Though this tendency might not reach you or me and many 
others, its effects could not but be felt. 

" Yours, very truly, J. Hoyt." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" New York, April 26, 1829. 
" My Dear Sie : I am told that the President has offered you Mr. Duer's place. 
I suppose, then, it is settled that this worthy gentleman is to reap a reward for his 
political perfidy, which has been withheld 53 days too long, [such language in 
regard to Mr. Duer was most atrocious; he was as fair and honorable a man as 
ever breathed,] and that no political orthodox man w^ould be in favor of Mr. Golden. 
I knew of none but yourself and myself that are asking for it; [I never asked or 
desired the office; it was thrust upon me, as I have before stated;] and I am icise 
enough to try to satisfy you that you had better not take it ; modest enongli to ask 
you to support me. You have been out of the profession ten years, and have made 
a fortune. I have been in it almost double the time, and have contrived to keep 
poor. You have a natural aversion for the profession. I have a natural love for it. 
You can have something more dignified. I ask for nothing higher from the powers 
that be. I have otlier reasons for asking you to decline the office, even if I do not 
get it. And with a very good feeling I will tell you what it is — If you should not be 
appointed, I should be prone to think I should have had it. Will you tell me what 

is to be done ? 

"Yours, J. Hoyt." 

This man was a pet of Van Buren's. I have understood he was a grocer, 
and became bankrupt. He was afterwards appointed by Van Buren Collector 
of the Port of New York. He certainly then purloined a large amount of the 
public money. 

Mr. Coleman, Editor " Evening Post," to James A. Hamilton. 

" New York, March 18, 1829. 
"My Dear Sir: * * * j c^^^ pleased at what you tell me respecting the 
President's determination, and particularly with his disposition with regard to 
England. I am convinced that if he brings to an amicable termination the points 
of difference with that country alone, it will be more conducive to the permanent 
prosperity of both, than any event that has occurred since the Treaty of '94, and 
be received with unbounded applause in every quarter of tlie Union. It is my 
sincere belief, founded on repeated conversations with intelligent and well disposed 
Englishmen, that we have nothing to do but receive the hand of good feeling which 
she will hasten to stretch out to us. For God's sake, no standing upon points and 
ceremony further than a decent regard to our own dignity demands, and all is as we 
ourselves could wish. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 127 

"David B. Ogden carae fresh from Washington yesterday morning, and sat with 
me nearly an hour in familiar and unreserved chat. He told me the President ap- 
peared so utterly incompetent to his new situation that fears were entertained that 
the Government would run down unless Van Buren could sustain it : that instead 
of that unmanageahle self-will tliat was apprehended, he was so unsettled, wavering 
and capricious of purpose, that the last visitor was sure of his ear : that in the 
ticklish case of General Eaton, his wife had been to him with the story of her 
wrongs ; complained of the treatment she had met with from the high-spirited 
dames of Washington, and obtained from him a promise, accompanied by an impre- 
cation, that he would espouse her cause, and" teach the females of that place that 
they should bend in low submission to one whose rights he would protect and defend, 
' by the eternal God.' And such, he said, was the state of things as represented to 
him when he came away. Van Buren was the only man of the Cabinet of whom 
wise report spoke well. Berrian was the most unpopular man in Georgia. As to 
Clay, he never saw him so very much elated. However, he said, candor required 
him to confess all his associations had been with the disappointed and mortified 
Adams partisans, and that this ought undoubtedly to be taken into consideration. 
Calhoun, he said, had already begun to advance his pretension to the next term, 
and had given a splendid dinner to the conductors of the several presses in various 
parts of the United States at Washington, of wliom no less a number than 18 were 
present, and among the rest M. M. Noah, the special friend and confidant of Post- 
master Gouverneur, who is a Calhoun man. * * * 

"I am sorry, indeed, that you should think of leaving Washington at present. 
It will not be safe ; rely upon it. * * * Mr. M. Livingston mentioned to me 
yesterday that Edward Livingston's wife is a fine woman, and now is at Washington, 
and in the house with the General, and he is confident her influence with him would 
preserve him from such an embarrassing, unfortunate scrape as that mentioned on 
the preceding page ; but that he would get his wife to write to him this day on that 
subject. I am more afraid of this afi'air than of any other whatever. 

"Adieu, I cannot add another word." 

James A. Hamilton to a Discreet Frienp, 

" Department OF State, March 21, 1829, 

" My Deab Sir : I believe I informed you that during my first visit to Adams we 
conversed about ' the project ' and that I had told him what you had said about my 
father's opinion in regard to the annexation of Louisiana, or as we call it ' the con- 
vention of cession of Louisiana,' &c., &c. I was required by the President to call up- 
on him again to-day, and after we had concluded the business upon which I went and 
was about to depart, he said : ' Mr. Hamilton, when I last saw you, yon told me that 
you thought the expression of your father's opinion as to the Constitutionality of 
the annexation of Louisiana had induced Mr. Jefierson to relinquish his Constitution- 
al scruple.' I replied, ' I did express such a belief, and I will now state particularly 
on what it was founded and all I know on the subject. After the publication of Mr. 
Plumer's letter, in conversation with Mr. Tazewell I stated to him what Mr. Cole- 
man had written to me on that subject, and Mr. T. in confirmation of that statement 
of what my father's views were, said : ' I received an impression at the time, I think 
from Mr. Madison, that your father wrote to him or to Mr. Jefierson on the question 



128 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of Constitutional power, and that Mr. Jefferson's scruples yielded to Lis opinion.' 
Mr. Adams then added, ' You also spoke to me of a letter written by your father to 
Mr. Cabot.' I replied, ' I did, but I think I was mistaken in the fact.' The letter to 
which I referred was written, I believe, by Mr. "Wolcott to Mr. Cabot, and probably 
expressed my father's views. He said, ' Have you got that lettir ?'f replied, ' No ! We 
are seeking for it.' He said, 'I should like to know the data of it — I think that im- 
portant, and should be glad when it is found if you would inform me of that fact.' 
I have ascertained that the conversation I had with Mr. King was on the Sth of 
April. — I wrote to you that it was about the Tth April, 1804. I then read from a let- 
ter I this day received from my brother John, as follows : ' A gentleman yesterday sent 
me a message stating that he had received a letter from Governor Wolcott on the sub- 
ject of Plumer's letter. It contains a full contradiction of tlie charge.' Mr, Adams said, 
' You suppose by the cliarge he means that against your father contained in Plamer's 
letter of his having consented to attend a meeting.' I said, ' I presumed that was what 
he meant. That I knew no more of it than I had read to him.' My object in all that 
passed between us was first in regard to my father's opinion as to the constitutionality 
and expediency of the annexation of Louisiana, to exchange in his mind evidence for 
' rumor,' and to induce a strong conviction from documentary evidence that my father 
was averse to the alleged '•'project:^ in order that in his reply to the ' appeal' he might be 
induced to do complete and entire justice to my father. You may be assured that 
Adams now does and always has believed there was such a jjinyVc;", and that ho will 
adduce such proofs of conversations on the subject held by distinguished persons in the 
Eastern States as will bring conviction to the publicmind. He is a zealot, and therefore 
a little mad on the subject. I do believe at first he united in those opinions then 
freely expressed and extensively entertained among his friends, and that when the 
matter became serious he became alarmed, particularly when he found men of a 
higher order than himself, and others who had conversed with him, did not unite in 
it. And I also believe that he has now and did in 1808-9 give it a deeper coloring 
than it deserved — ^butbe assured the public will go with him. He told me he had 
ascertained that it had originated in Connecticut, and at an earlier day than he had at 
first supposed, and that it was first occasioned by the slave representation which gave 
the South an undue influence. In reciting our conversation I ought to have told 
yon in order to be, as I intended to be, exact in all respects, that I told him my father 
had three days before his death written a letter to Sedgwick strongly impressing up- 
on his mind the importance of preserving the Union. That it was a substitute for a 
much longer and more elaborate communication that he had proposed to make on 
that and other subjects connected with the welfvre of the country. And also that I 
asked him if there was not something to be found among Mr. King's papers on this 
subject. He replied, ' I do not know.' I wrote to Charles King on the subject, and 
he replied that as they did not wish their father's name to be connected with the 
matter, and as they intended to keep out of it. they had not looked into their father's 
I)apers to ascertain what was there,' or something to that effect. I then said that 
we were at one time with the Kings, and that when James King had been spoken 
to, he had made a similar reply. He immediately said, ' I, however, have always 
been on good terms and been treated with kindness by Mr. King and every member 
of his family,' If I see him again I will let him know the Benson anecdote. Our 
negotiations will be conducted in a frank and manly manner. If the views and feel- 
ings of the President are fairly represented he heartily despises the tricks, airs and 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 129 

acts of dii^lomacy which in truth amount to nothing after all but to make a display. 
"When I spoke of ' the old mail,'' &c., I meant nothing more than to use a term expres- 
sive of the kindness I feel for him, and particularly at this time when he is unwell, 
and almost worn down. Will you never know how to appreciate what D. B. O. says? 
He is the prince of gossips and of •. His representations of the vacillating con- 
duct of the President, and of Mrs. Eaton's interview, is all a fable. That Calhoun is 
billing and cooing, I have no doubt, but when you tell me that Noah should be the 
friend and confidant of Calhoun it surprises me. I have always known that the latter 
was a Calhoun man. "When we meet I will let you know all. Until then I pray you 
do not heed anything you hear. Your opinion will be quoted, and you stand now 
in a position to be very useful. I do not mean to leave Washington for some time, 
although I am tired and almost sick. Preserve this letter. I have written the first 
part of it as a memorandum of what passed with Adams. 

"Adieu. Yours sincerely, &c. 
" P. S. Lyman dined with me yesterday. He is a clever man." 

M. Van Buren to James A. Hamiltox. 

" Albany, March, 1829. 

" Mt Deae Sir : I am not sufiiciently advised as to the talents of young Duane to 
enable me to judge of the fitness of his appointment. If he is competent, it strikes me 
that the selection would be well received. If the General makes one removal at 
this moment, he must go on. Would it not be better to get the streets of Washing- 
ton clear of oQice-seekers first, in the way I proposed ? I cannot, from my total want 
of knowledge as to Barry's professional talents, speak as to the propriety of his ap- 
pointment. Politically, it would be well, but I take it for granted that, if desired to 
be done at this time, it will have been done before this reaches you. As to the publi- 
cation of the session-laws, I have only to say that I Avish the contract to be made, 
and have no personal wishes upon the subject of the individual to be employed other 
than that (if the public can be as well, and as reasonably, served) it should be one of 
our friends. If it has been usual (as I take to be the course) to have it done at Wash- 
ington by the printers to Congress, I w^ould of course contract with Gen. Greene, 
There can be no difficulty in doing what is right upon this subject without troubling 
the President farther than to take his advice as to the person to be employed. As to 
the publication in the newspapers I have more to say. So far as depends on me, 
my course will be, to restore by a single order every one who has been turned out 
by Mr. Clay for political reasons, unless circumstances of a personal character have 
since arisen which would make the reappointment in any case improper. To ascer- 
tain that, will take a little time. There I would pause. It would be perfectly 
agreeable to me to take the responsibility of that measure myself, and I cannot think 
that it can be necessary to do anything about it until I come down. If the present 
incumbents should begin the publication of the laws (if that beginning is necessary) 
their work will be cut ofii'by their respective removals, and the persons appointed 
will take it up where they leave it off. We are totally buried in the snow here, and 
I fear that the roads will, for some days, be impassable. I await only the result of 
my commission or resolution, to resign and be ofi'. Eemember me alfectionately to 

the President, and believe me to be 

" Very sincerely your friend." , 

9 



130 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Van Buren was in Washington ou the 22d of March, 1829. He did not as- 
sume the duties of Secretary until after the 4th of April. Up to that day I was 
charged with the responsibilities of that office and received the salary for one 
month. At Van Buren's request, 1 remained in Washington to assist him in 
his duties until the latter part of May. 

The following extracts from letters written to a friend in New York at the 
moment the events to which they refer occurred, without reference to their 
dates, will afford glimpses of an interesting character : 

" April, 1829. 

*' I have jnst returned from dinner at the President's, where everything went off 
well. The ladies were not at the table. Van Buren, Kendall, Lewis, and I were pres- 
ent. (Kendall was invited at the instance of Mr. Van Buren, who, the day before, 
said to me, ' Hamilton, Kendall is to be an iutluential man. I wish the President 
would invite him to dinner, and if you have no objection, as you are so intimate 
with the General, I wish you would propose to liini to invite Kendall to meet us 
at dinner to-morrow,') I spoke to the President, and Kendall was invited. Van 
Buren was very attentive to him." 

Another letter to the same : 

" April, 1829, 

" McLane hesitated, but w-ill consent by letter to-day to take the place of Attor- 
ney General. But as Berrian has refused the mission and continues Attorney Gen- 
eral, that matter is at an end; and w^e have offered the mission to McLane, who 
will, I liave no doubt, accept it ; if he does not, the President has intimated to me 
that I am the next ; Vaughan expressed to me to-day a strong desire that I should 
go." 

Very shortly after the Cabinet was formed I perceived that the Attorney 
'General (Berrian) was not at all acceptable. At length the feeling ripened 
iinto a determination to get rid of him, and to give the place to Louis McLane, 
The latter had been induced to neglect his private affaii-s for some years by the 
• allurements of Congress. His most intelligent and excellent wife induced him, 
when his term of service in the House of Representatives expired, to go to 
"Wilmington (Delaware) and practise law. This being generally understood, 
the President and Van Buren wishing to bring him into the Cabinet as Attor- 
ney General, sent me to see McLane, and authorized me to engage on their be- 
half if he would return to the public service, that when Judge Duval (who was 
very aged and iniirm) should die, or any other vacancy should occur on the 
bench of the Supreme Court, he should have it ; and to tell him, if he assented, 
that he would be appointed Attorney General in the place of Berrian, 

I went on this important errand W'ith all haste. We travelled by stages at 

-.that time, and over very bad roads, I arrived at McLane's before breakfast. 

Had an interview with him ; talked the whole matter over, making a distinct 

offer of the judgeship as the condition of his going into public service. This 

l)eing well understood, he authorized me to say to the President that he ac- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 131 

cepted the oflfer upon the conditiou stated, aud that he would go to Washington 
in a few days. I returned without delay aud communicated the result of my 
negotiation. Berrian was not displaced, and McLaue was appointed Minister to 
Great Britain, where he remained until August, 1831, when Van Buren was 
sent. 

McLane was afterwards appointed Secretaryj)f_the_Treasury. He would 
not reniove the deposits, and was compelled to resign. Duane was appointed ; 
Ee refused. Then Taney was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. He re- 
moved the deposits, and d&S&sequently when Justice Marshall died, Taney was 
appointed in his place, whereas McLane should have been appointed pursuant 
to the engagement made with him through me. It is said Jackson felt this in- 
justice to McLane so keenly that he called upon President Polk and urged him 
to appoint McLane to a mission; this was done. Van Buren met Mrs. McLane 
after the violation of this pledge, and addressed her in his usually courteous 
manner. She repulsed him, saying, " She could not recognize a man as a gen- 
tleman, who was so regardless of his engagements as he had been." 

On the 14th April, 1829, McLane addressed the following letter to me: 

"Deae Sie : You will see by the enclosed that you are a better negotiator than 
you supposed " ( referring to the negotiation above stated). " I will confess to you 
that I have taken this step reluctaotly, aud with fearful forebodings. I am not, bow- 
ever — unfortunately— in a situation to consult all my feelings, much less to be fas- 
tidious, and for reasons which we may talk over when we meet. I have launched 
my bark on a new sea. 

" Believe me very truly yours, L. McLane." 

In a letter of a subsequent date, on the death of Judge Washington, which 
I will give hereafter, he referred again to this arrangement. 

Martin Van Buren to President Jackson. 

^ "AprilU, 1829. 

" Dear Sie : I have no doubt we shall very soon receive answers of acceptance 
from McLane and Woodbury. If we could determine upon the appointment to the 
Netherlands at the same time, and then announce that of "Woodbury and Van Ness 
from New England, and McLaue for Old England, all would be well received, being 
in itself very proper. The importance of having a resident minister at the Nether- 
lands, acquainted with the controversy, and able to enforce our rights in advance of 
the submission, is obvious. I cannot doubt Judge Preble's approbation, provided it 
is understood that he goes afterwards as Envoy ; at all events, what is now decided 
upon may be subject to revision when he arrives. The only difficulty in the way 
(aud a serious one it is) is the situation of Mr. Hughes. Two things in regard to 
that appear to be certain, viz. : 1st. That he is wholly incompetent to the discharge 
of the particular and important duties growing out of the Maine contest ; and, 2d. 
That from his present position in the public service, and with an eye to what has 
taken place, «Sic., &c., we cannot get him out of the way without giving great general 



132 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

dissatisfaction, unless it be by promotion of some sort. Tbere is no reason to believe 
that Mr. Poinsett will return at this time, and, if he should, Mr. Hughes' talents are 
not well adapted to a Court in ■which, from our contiguity, &c., we ought to be well 
represented. There is no other and authorized diplomatic mission open of a grade 
superior to his own. "What, then, can be done with him? The difficulty and 
delicacy of our situation in this respect has pressed heavily upon my mind, and 
I have been able to hit upon but one mode in which we can be effectually relieved. 
However agreeable and pleasant a companion Mr. Hughes is, I do not think that he 
has the right talents to make him useful to his country in the diplomatic service, and 
especially in its highest walks. It would, therefore, be a public advantage to get 
him out of the system ; but, as he has been in it so long, and owing to the peculiar 
conjuncture which exists, is so strongly fixed, that cannot be donew-ithout some cost. 
I submit to your consideration the propriety of giving him money for honors. Can 
we ever do better with the Consulate at Liverpool than to make it serve this pur- 
pose ? That General Smith would be satisfied is, I tliink, highly probable. x\t all 
events, that should create no difficulty, as he ought to be satisfied. The obvious fiict 
that the office, instead of being bestowed on a friend, had been made subservient to 
the great interests of the country (which all would understand), would serve to do 
away all sympatliy for old Mr. Maury — who having been appointed by General 
"Washington, has, on that account, some sanctity attached to his commission." 

"William Coleman to James A. Hamilton. 

"IsTew Toek, April 15th. 
"Dear Sin : My object in writing again to-day, is to tell you of a conversation 
I had yesterday witii Col. Troup, leaving you to make such use of it as you may 
judge best. In the afternoon, he came to my house not a little agitated to inform 
me that he suspected that Swartwout had been exerting himself, and engaging his 
friends to exert themselves, to induce the members of the Cincinnati to take an 
active part in procuring him his appointment; calculating that the influence of this 
body with General Jackson would be paramount; that Varick had been enlisted, 
and he feared that Fish also had been persuaded to lend his name to further his 
views, and that one of the old members of the order had called upon him for the 
purpose of getting him to join with V. and F. Mr. Troup told his visitor that he 
Avould sooner cut off one of his fingers than he would endeavor to persuade General 
Jackson to do an act that must go near to ruin him in the estimation of his best 
friends. On which he hastily took his leave. * * * Swartwout has engaged almost 
every man of decent appearance whom he has found in the streets or elsewhere in 
furthering his views, and at the same time, keeps a constant running about to and 
fro, telling every one he meets that his commission is on its way here. Yester- 
day, I was informed that he had received a letter by the morning's mail from Genl. 
Swift, another of his cronies, telling him that he had heard General Jackson say at 
a public dinner at the General's table, that he had given orders for the commission 
to be made out, and that it would be here by to-day's mail. Troup told me that he 
had met Burr a day or two since, when the appointment of Swartwout becoming 
the subject of conversation. Burr, very much to the surprise of T,, said that if the 
President did make it, he would do the most outrageous thing that had yet been 
done in any part of the United States. From which it w^ould clearly appear that 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 133 

Burr and Swartwout have ceased to be friends. Col. Troup said he had intended 
to write at length to Mr. Van Buren, and exert whatever influence he miglit possess 
to' prevent the President from doing an act that must prove deeply and lastingly 
injurious, but that he had been dissuaded from doing so by his son, who thought it 
would expose him to the lasting and inveterate resentment of Swartwout and his 
friends. Troup in a whisper said, Lenox declared that Swartwout w'ould certainly 
be appointed. He (Swartwout), having stated to Lenox that the President would keep 
his promise to him, because he (Jackson) well knew that if he did not, he (Swail- 
wout) would publish to the world, Jackson's participation with Burr in his attempt 
to sever the States, and establish a Government in a jSTation to be formed of a part of 
Mexico, and of the western part of the United States. Bat, why not put this 
vexatious and highly irritating question at re>t at once and forever, by appointing 
John Ferguson to the place of Collector, and Swartwout Naval Officer, if it is not 
too good a situation for him ? Eespecting the former, I have no scruple in saying 
the appointment would give universal satisfaction to every man whose good opinion 
is worth having either here or elsewhere. Such is the result of my inquiries among 
our merchants. He is a man of legal acquirements, a good belles-lettres scholar, and 
of an unblemished private character. His long experience in the Custom-House has 
made him conversant with all the statutes relating to the revenue, and their various 
readings and constructions : for he has been the mentor to whom Thompson has 
always been in the habit of having recourse, and upon whom he has always 
hnplicitly relied, in every difficulty. His promotion at this time, I am sure, 
would be hailed by the merchants of New York with heartfelt pleasure. I had 
made up my miud this morning to di-miss all scruples from my mind, and approach 
the President himself in the form of a letter which should contain a fair, impartial, 
and disinterested statement of the agitation and anxiety that prevail in this city at 
this moment, concerning the pending appointment of Collector. Perhaps I may 
prepare such a letter, and envelope it to you by an early mail unsealed, Avhich I shall 
beg you to read carefully, and then hand to Mr. Van Buren for his perusal also ; 
after which it is to be delivered, or not, according as you and he shall judge meet. 
I have just this moment been told by Mr. Burnham, with marks of horror on his 
countenance, that Henry Post, concerning whom I spoke to you in my letter of 
yesterday, has been appointed an appraiser at the Custom-House — God forbid ! 

James A. Hamilton to William Coleman. 

"Washington, Ap ril 16, 1829. 

" Deae Sir : I would immediately communicate your letter to the President, but 
that you have mentioned Charles King as opposed to Swartwout. Tf you had said 
a gentleman of respectability, or in any other manner described Charles King without 
naming him, it w^ould have done well ; but, with that name in your letter, it would be 
wholly inoperative. You must, therefore, in the same temper write another letter 
of the same tenor, omitting that name; and, if you can, I pray you write directly to 
Ingham or the President, and for this reason say all you have said in your letter, 
which I return to you for that purpose, omitting that name, but do not delay, and 
let all your friends write. A vast many letters have been sent here from all quarters, 
and they must be counteracted by others." 



1 34 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

James A. Hamilton to William Coleman. 

"Washington, April 23, 1829. 
" Dear Sir : To-day, it is believed the appointments for your city will be made. 
J". Thoniiison, Collector, will be removed, but who will get his place, I cannot say. 
I have no doubt Coddington will be appointed Surveyor, and Coe, one of the ap- 
praisers. Who will be the other, is uncertain. The District Attorney will be a 
friend of yours, beyond all doubt. The President said to me, to-day, ' I am anxious 
to make appointments for New York, that I may have the pleasure of giving you a 
reward approaching in some measure to the degree of services you have rendered 
to me.' Yours, in haste." 

A letter to a Judicious Friend, dated April 22, is given, as confirming what 
I have before stated, in regard to the want of knowledge of the history of our 
Country, of men in high position. It is as follows : 

"In order to preserve the evidence of jiassing events w^hich may afford some- 
thing for history, I relate an incident of to-day. The President, Eaton, Donelson 
and Lewis, present. Eaton, as Secretary of War, liad prepared a ' talh ' in reply 
to a remonstrance of the Cherokee Nation of Indians against what they deemed 
a ixsurpation by Georgia ; that State having determined, unless they removed before 
the 10th June, 1830, to drive them out of her territories. The Indians having formed 
a Constitution for their government, are disposed to place themselves in an indepen- 
dent position as to the State Government. 

" The object of the communication to the Indians is. First : to show them that 
they have not the rights they claim, and. Second : that the Government of the 
United States has not a Constitutional power to sustain them against Georgia. This 
paper was carefully prepared, copied, signed by Eaton, and ready to be delivered. 
The President thought proper to submit it to Van Buren for his opinion as to the 
constitutional question, and to that end, he gave it to me this morning; directing me 
to read it, and requesting Van Buren to give him his opinion by 2 o'clock. I read it 
over before I delivered it to Van Buren, and found a gross inaccuracy (which I will 
hereafter explain) repeated twice. I gave the paper to Van Buren. Ee went over 
it. He suggested alterations, but the faults I had observed, did not occur to him. 
He came to the Department with the paper, and desired me to examine it with him. 
We did so. He read it, paragraph by paragraph, and sentence by sentence, sug- 
gesting such alterations in the phraseology as occurred to him, but passing over those 
defects without observing them. lie then took it to the President. It was then 
examined by him, the President, and Eaton, and settled. When he came to dinner 
(we were living together) I asked him what had been done. He replied that all or 
most of his suggestions had been adopted. I then asked him, ' if it had occurred to 
him (I had been thinking of it, and had come to a decided opinion), that there was 
an error of a most serious nature in stating that " By the Treaty of 1783, and by the 
acknowledgment of an Independence thereby the United States acquired Sovereignty," 
&c. Whereas the true position was, and it was that which we had always insisted 
upon, that our Sovereignty was acquired by our Declaration of Independence and 
our successful war, and not by tlie acknowledgment of Great Britain or by the 
Treaty. Before the negotiation of that treaty, our commissioners insisted that the 
United States must be recognized as a Nation. The Treaty was essentially a settle- 
ment of boundaries between independent nations, &c., «&c., «&c. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 135 

" I urged that the position taken in this very important State paper was inac- 
curate, and might he injurious to us in the controversy in regard to the Eastern 
boundary Hne ; for, if that treaty was to bs considered as a grant of Sovereignty over 
our Territory, it would be urged that such a grant ought to be construed most 
strictly against us, and thus that the Maine question might be affected, and that it 
was historically a blunder ; that our Commissioners, under the urgent advice of Mr. 
Jay, refused to enter upon the negotiation of that treaty unless we met the British 
Government as an independent nation ; in addition, that it distinctly yields a 
position we had forever asserted, and sustained against the British as to our fisheries, 
&c., &c. 

'• Mr. Van Buren readily yielded to my remarks, only interrupting me to ask how 
it would interfere with the boundary question. I again explained, in the manner I 
have stated. He sat down and wrote a letter to Eaton, which he read to me, point- 
ing out the error. The letter was sent. In an hour, Eaton came with Donelsoa 
(Lewis having come before) to our room. Van Buren asked him if he had received 
his note. He had not. Van Buren then explained to him the error, and added, 
' Hamilton's keen intelligence first pointed it out ! — the paper must be altered.' 
Eaton produced it. I took it, and referred to the two places. All acquiesced in the 
propriety of a change. This is a very important paper, and will be much scrutinized. 
If it had gone forth as it was, it would have disgraced its authors, and must have 
excited great distrust of the fitness of the two Secretaries to manage the affairs of 
this great Country ; — a distrust which, with all my regard for the President, I cannot 
help indulging. 

" How many other gross faults it may have, I know not. I did not examine it 
with that care always required to make such a paper what it ought to be. These 
faults were too glaring to have escaped a tyro in our affairs, and I assure you it 
makes me tremble, when I reflect how unconscious we all are of our needs ; and 
how indifferent some of our public men are to reading, and making themselves 
masters of principles, and familiar with the striking facts in the history of our 
country. If we get through without calamity, it will be by good fortune, by the 
force and simplicity of our machine, and the sincerity of our relations." 

At this day, when referring to this singular event, I am more and more 
surprised that the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War should have 
been so ignorant of the interesting events which occurred in Paris, preliminarily 
to the negotiation of the Treaty of Peace, when Mr. Jay so wisely and firmly 
resisted the advice of Vergennes, the French minister, to whom he made this 
memorable declaration : " That he did not consider American independence as 
requiring any aid or validity from British Acts. If Great Britain treated with 
them as with any other nation, on a footing of equality, that would be suf- 
ficient." And the remarkable declaration of G-eorge III. to Lord Shelburne : 
*' The point next my heart, and which I am determined, be the consequence 
what it may, never to relinquish but with my crown and life, is to prevent a 
total unequivocal recognition of the independence of America." 

Mr. Jay's frank and manly firmness overcame all this obstinacy ; and Mr 
Oswald, on the 21st September, 1782, received a second commission author- 



136 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

izing liim to treat and conclude witli any commissioners vested with equal 
powers, " by and on the part of the Thirteen United States of America, a peace 
or truce with the United States." That this epoch of our history, so remark- 
ably manifesting the tenacity of George III., the want of fidelity on the part of 
Trance or her minister Vergennes, and so honorable to the American Com- 
missioners, was not reached by the studies of the Secretary of State or the 
Secretary of War of the United States, is perhaps as remarkable as any other 
event in the histoi'y of the high officials of our Government up to that period. 

To A Discreet Friend. 

" Wasiiington, April 23, 1829. 

" My Deak Sir : Last evening, after I returned from a party at Carrie Patterson's, 
I wrote to you a letter of four sheets upon a matter of public importance ; indeed, 
so much so that I dared not trust it to the mail. Should a very good private con- 
veyance offer, I will avail myself of it. I will only add, lest you should be excited 
by the hesitancy, that as it regards myself, it is creditable to me, and tends greatly 
to induce a wish to keep me here. I am to-day to dine with Vaughan, to celebrate 
the King's birthday. I will, when I return, unless my loyalty should induce me to 
drink too deep, give you an account of the feast and all that occurs worthy of remark. 
To-day the appointments will be made for New York. The President said to me: 
'I am anxious to do that work in order to have the pleasure of rendering to you a 
service in some measure approaching to those you have rendered to me.' I thanked 
him most heartily. 

" I am very tired of being here, among other reasons because I am cruelly 
disappointed at the manner in which, and to the extent removals and appointments 
are made." 

To THE Same. 

"April 29, 1829. 
" McLaue is quite alarmed lest he should be unable to do anything in England. 
He has presented all sorts of advantages to me to induce me to go with him ; and 
at length proposes that there should be a special mission, and that I should be a 
commissioner with him ; which would make me Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary ; and after a treaty is formed, that I should remain with that title 
and as a resident minister. To that I would consent; and he is determined to 
exert himself in the matter with all his power. I do not think it can be brought 
about : but, if it should be, I do not think I could refuse. I told him it would be a 
great sacrifice. He replied that I could get the same, or as good an oflice as that I 
now have (District-Attorney) on my return," 

To THE Same. 

" Washington, April 24, 1829. 
" The President has sent an order for my appointment as District- Attorney. 
The rest of the news you will hear soon enongh. The appointment of Swartwout 
has quite annoyed VauBuren, who yesterday sent a strong argument to the President 
against Swartwout's appointment. It is well, if it were to be, that it is done ; and 
now I dismiss it as a painful subject from my mind, and I hope the Secretary will, 
as I have advised him, do the same." 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 137 

From James A. Hamilton to a Discreet Friend. 

" Washington, May, 1829. 
" To-day, Van Buren received a letter from Butler, declining his last and most pres- 
sing request to come here. This absolutely cut him down ; and as a mark of his regard 
for mc, I repeat what passed when he read the letter. lie turned to me and said : 
' What shall I do ; how much I regret to lose you. However, that cannot be helped ; 
you must not leave me until we get through with the instructions to England and 
France.' I referred him to the middle of the month as the period of my departure. 
He replied, ' Oh, my dear friend, what shall I do without you ; but stop, say no 
more of that at present ; let us go to our work.' I declare to you, his friendship 
for, and apparent dependence upon me, for his comfort (if nothing more), is so great 
as to make me almost sad when I think of leaving him, and particularly believing, 
as I do, how useful I am to him." 

"Washington, May 12, 1829. 

" As the time for my departure approaches, Van Buren draws closer to me ; I 
feel real regret at leaving him ; more, indeed, than I could have supposed. He often 
says, ' When you are gone, what shall I do for a companion ! We could live cheer- 
fully and happily together for ever, could we not? ' Ilis inquiries after my health, 
and advice to remain in-doors and take care of myself, are of the most winning 
character; never did there exist more entire confidence between two men than 
there is between us. I nm just now preparing instructions for the ministers to 
France and England, and lor Lee as Consul-General to the Barbary Powers." 

James A. Hamilton to "William Coleman. 

" Washington, May 6, 1829. 

"Dear Sir: Your letter of the 4th inst. is received, and I reply to all its 
points. In the first place, I cannot leave this city until the 15th inst., and perhaps 
not quite as soon as tliat, although I am as anxious as you can possibly conceive to 
get home. My detention is caused by my having been engaged in some public 
matters which I have not completed, and to throw up which, and thus commit them 
to new hands, would produce very inconvenient delay. In addition, I am disposed, 
although at a sacrifice of my personal convenience, to give myself the advantage of 
completing these works. So much for that. * * * As to the displeasure of Doer and 
Banner, to which you refer, it is certainly causeless. The President's mind was 
made up at an early day on that subject, and nothing could have changed him. 
A letter was written by some person in New York informing him of the intimacy 
between King and Duer, and saying, as the President told me, that unless Duer 
was removed all the declarations as to reform would be considered as illusory and 
deceptive. He told me this with a tone and energy which seemed to have its 
origin in some matter of deep feelings. More of all this when we meet. 

" Your letter to the President must not ho iniblished, as much has already been 
said on the subject of Swartwout's appointment. It stands well as you placed it in 
the paper of Monday. * * * The appointment to which the President referred was 
that of Swartwout as Collector." 



138 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The Minister to France. The President, shortly after his inauguration, offer- 
ed this mission to his friend the Hon. Edward Livingston, then a Senator of 
the United States. His delay in accepting or declining the office em- 
barrassed and indeed displeased the President. However, about the 7th of May, 
a letter was received at the Department from that gentleman declining the place. 

I relate the following to show from what slight causes honors are sometimes 
conferred. 

When Livingston's letter was received, I suggested to Van Buren that it 
would be well to select another person immediately, in order to avoid the pres- 
sure of applicants; that William C. Rives was a fit man for the place; that 
his appointment would gratify Virginia, and thus you will have an opportunity 
to prove that you " know how to keep as well as to make friends." He assent- 
ed, and asked me to go to the President and urge his appointment. I took 
Livingston's letter. The President said, " Well, I am glad he has decided at 
last." I suggested that it was important to make an immediate selection, and 
that Rives was a proper man. He said, " Do you know him — is he competent — 
what does Van Buren say ?" I replied, he thinks the selection will be a good 
one. ''Well, I am satisfied; but before the place is offered, do you write to 
him to know whether he will accept. I will not have these things hanging so 
long." I wrote to Rives immediately, who replied as follows, on the 14th of 
May, when the appointment was made. 

"I had the pleasure of receiving by the last mail your very acceptable letter of 
the 7th inst. enclosing one to Mrs. Rives" (slie it was who had said to me that ' Van 
Buren knew how to make friends, but not how to keep them.') * =*= * "Permit me, 
my dear sir, to return you my own thanks for the friendly interest you have been so 
good as to take in my fortunes ; and to assure you that the cordial sanction of such 
minds as yours to the act of my selection for an important and delicate service 
materially enhances the gratification arising from it to my own feelings. A letter I 
had the honor to address a few days ago to our distinguished friend the Secre- 
tary of State, has no doubt put you in possession of my decision on the offer made to 
me." 

A Letter to a Friend. 

" May, 1829. 
" Mr. Livingston came on here in great haste. lie dined with us (Van Buren 
and J. A. II.) I verily believe his object was to ascertain whether he could not still 
take the mission to France. That was out of tlie question, inasmuch as it had been 
oifered to Mr. Rives. He now wishes John Tillotson to be appointed consul at 
Havre, and Davesac, his brother-in-law, to get a place. All is getting on well. I 
am very busy."' 

James A. Hamilton to a Discreet Friend. 

" May 10, 1829. 

" Van Buren and I are invited to dine to-morrow with the President to meet the 
Danish Governor Von Scholten. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 139 

" During the last two days I have devoted myself to the examination of French and 
English correspondence : and to make notes of instructions to he forwarded to our new 
ministers at those Courts, When this is done, I have done. I have, however, found 
much further and other employment, which will keep me in Washington until June. 

" This city is in an uproar of excitement owing to removals from oflBce. That 
operation comes home to the interests and social arrangements of many in this 
community, and makes all who hold office, tremble. Van Buren is still harping 
upon keeping me here. He has determined, and the President acquiesces, that in 
the first message it be recommended that instead of a Home Department an under 
Secretary of State be appointed (salary $3,500) with a chief and other clerks ; and 
this office he says I must take — having then enjoyed the District Attorney's office 
one year. So, you see, he is bent upon having me here." 



' CHAPTER VI. 

FROM APRIL 23, 1829— DECEMBER 16, 1830. 

Mr. Hamilton appointed District Attorney for tlie Sontliern District of New York — 
Difficulties of the Position — Judgment against Edward Livingston — Its Settle- 
ment — Letters from Martin Van Buren — Instructions to Ministers Rives and 
McLnne — Mr. Ehind's Negotiations with the Porte — Mr. Van Buren on the 
Newspapers — The Eaton Aiiair considered in the Cabinet — A Long Account 
by Mr. Van Bnren — General Jackson's Message — The National Bank — General 
Jackson and Congress — Memorial on the German Trade. 

The office of District Attorney of tlie United States for the Southern 
District of New York was conferred upon me by President Jackson on the 
23d of April, 1829, Having remained in Washington, assisting Mr. Van 
Buren, Secretary of State, during April and May, 1829, on the 8th of June, 
1829, I left Washington to enter upon the arduous duties of that office. 

The evening of the day before I left Washington, I went to take leave of 
the President. He said to me : " Go to the duties of your office, and make 
as much money as you can ; but remember, you are to be always at my com- 
mand. Branch (Secretai-y of the Navy) will not hold that office long, and 
wlien he retires, you will be called upon to take bis place. I want you to be 
near me." 

Having essentially withdrawn from tbe practice of the law for over six 
years, and never baving been a proficient even in the ordinary course of the 
profession, I was now called upon to renew a profession, the difficulties of which 
were increased by the fact that they involved an accurate knowledge of the 
laws of the United States; of the course of commercial affairs; of the laws 
particularly applicable thereto ; and also of the criminal law. 

In addition to tbe ordinary cases of suits on duty, bonds, prosecutions for 
forfeitures, of which there were many, I found several long pending suits 
against defaulting public officers. 

The following incident will show bow ignorantly or loosely the affairs of 
the Treasury Department were conducted. My friend, Edward Livingston, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 141 

was indebted to the United States to a Ini-ge amount, for which there was a 
judgment on record against him in the United States Court in New York, 
He came to my office in New York with a letter dated 20th August, 1829, 
addressed to me officially, signed by S. Pleasanton, an agent of the Treasury, by 
which I was informed that a satisfactory arrangement having been made by the 
attorney of the United States at New Orleans, for the payment of the balance 
of the judgment standing against Edward Livingston in my district, which 
balance was stated to be $9,511.47, I was directed to enter satisfaction on 
that judgment. As the letter was handed to me and read, (having been in- 
formed by a letter addressed to me by Mr. Livingston, dated June 16, 1829, 
that " the debt was to be paid by the assignment of property in New Orleans,") 
.1 told him I could not enter satisfaction of that judgment on that letter, as no 
officer of the Government had a right (unless authorized by an act of Congress 
to do so) to receive anything but money in payment of a debt to the Govern- 
ment, and that his letter of June 16 had conveyed to m.e the knowledge of the 
fact that the judgment was not thus paid. He earnestly urged me to obey the 
order of the agent, insisting that it was not my duty to look into the kind of 
settlement which was made with the attorney at New Oi'leans. I, however, 
entertained a diiferent opinion ; and although very much disposed to serve him, 
I persisted in declining to discharge the judgment. He returned to Washing- 
ton, and shortly afterwards I received a letter from the Solicitor of the Trea- 
sury directing me to enter satisfaction of the judgment in favor of the United 
States agent, Edward Livingston, the debt having been paid. This being im- 
perative, I drew a satisfaction of the judgment in the usual form on the back 
of the letter, filed the same, and thus the judgment was cancelled. 

Subsequently, Mr. Ogden Hoffman, District Attorney, examining the 
records in relation to that indebtedness, and finding the satisfaction piece thus 
written, asked me why I used the Solicitor's note for that purpose, I replied 
that I did so because I intended that the authority under which I had entered 
satisfaction of that judgment should always go along with that fact, believing, 
as I did, that this was an official means of getting over a difficulty, and thus 
doing a favor to a gentleman who was a personal friend of the President, and 
who could not receive the salary of office so long as that judgment was in force. 
It was a piece of jugglery with which I did not choose to be supposed to be 
connected, 

Martin Van Buren to J. A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, July 13, 1S29. 
"My Dear Hamilton: I last evening put the last sentence to Mr. Eives' in- 
structions. They are now in the hands of the copyist, and will be ready for submis- 
sion to the President when he returns on Wednesday. I assure you I am very 
happy in having gotten through these works. I hoped to have made Mr. Eives' 
shorter, but by a singular result, they will not vary three pages. I found it indis- 



142 "^ REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

pensably necessary to throw the whole French affair in a new form. I shall go up 
to McLane's ia a few days, and have some idea of accompanying him to tlie ship at 
the mouth of the Delaware, but that is uncertain. If I send Mr. Rives' instruc- 
tions to him at New York, you have my permission to asli him to show them to 
you, and the same with McLane. The latter gentleman was much pleased with his, 
and evidently felt that his business was much simplified, and of course went imme- 
diately to worrying himself about his passage, and in regard to which he has 
suffered Mr. R. to put him in the wrong. For a truly great man, he has more little- 
ness about him than usual. I found the subject of particular directions to Mr. R., 
in regard to the claims, very embarrassing. I trust you will think I have got over 
it very well. I mean to write to the claimants to appoint a committee with full 
power to commit them by their opinion and advice, with whom I will consult, if it 
should become necessary. I know these people well. Get for them what you may, 
and they will grumble just as much for the residue as if they had received nothing, 
whilst, in advance, they would be satisfied with much less. But I do not wish to 
give publicity to this. I am amused with the rabid virulence of Charles King. His 
last display of little malice is evinced in the republication of toasts which John 
McLane got some canal contractors at Georgetown to father, to revenge himself on 
our ministers for refusing to take him as Secretary. * * * 

" The General grows upon me every day. I can fairly say that I have become 
quite enamored with him. Write me often. I was much pleased with your inter- 
view with Mr. Gallatin. His remarks were very important to sustain me in case of 
misfortune in a course I had determined to pursue, because it was plainly unavoid- 
able. But you will see that I liave looked at it in both aspects without materially 
weakening either. "What a farrago of matters here ! 

" Yours truly." 

"P. S. — Mr. Calvert visits me often. He damns us up hill and down for re- 
ducing the value of real estate in "Washington. He says, that if we were to put it 
to the vote in the district, we would not get more votes than Mr. Owen did in his 
contest with Campbell." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, July 15, 1829. 
" Deae Sir: Your letter of July 10, marked confidential, I received on my re- 
turn from Point Comfort, for which I thank you. I have this moment enclosed it 
to the Secretary of the Treasury for his guide. With the compliments of myself 
and family to you and yours, I remain, dear sir, your friend, &c." 

Mr. Van Buren to J. A. Hamilton", 

Washington, July IS, 1829. 
My Dear Sir : Thank Mr. Huygens for his suggestions. It is easy to say that it 
will not do for us to let any other power occupy Cuba ; but, my dear sir, who is to 
take the responsibility of preventing it, should the attempt be made ? Surely, not the 
President. He can only remonstrate. To this end I shall, after my return, write a 
letter to McLane, Rives, and Everett, or Van Ness, directing them what to say upon 
the subject to the Powers to which they are accredited. My hope and belief is, that 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 143 

the expedition against Mexico will altogether fail, and that Mexico will not feel her- 
self strong enough to attempt Cuba, with a full knowledge that she could not be al- 
lowed to possess it long if she succeeded in conqueruig it in the first instance, and with 
reason to believe that it would be the means of involving herself with other Powers. 
I am well satisfied with my instructions, but you will now see them and judge for 
yourself. 

" You will see by the articles which have already appeared upon the subject of the 
negotiation of a tarifl^, how much sensibility there is in the public mind upon that sub- 
ject. A very ridiculous article was inserted in the Telegraph by one of the individ- 
uals left by General Green in charge of the paper, upon which Gales has seized with 
much address. It will be corrected in to-day's Telegraph. I shall leave here for 
McLane's on Wednesday morning. "Will stay there a day or two and return to "Wash- 
iogton by Cape May. I wrote to Cambreling, advising him and you to meet me at 
Delaware, and to take a trip to the Cape with me. If you do not apprehend that a 
meeting with the anti-tariff champion at such a place would, in connection with what 
has already been said, furnish food for newspaper speculation, I should like to have 
you come. 

" Cam. would turn up his'nose at this in great contempt, but there is more in 
small matters than he is always aware of, although he is really a sensible and useful 
man. 



* * * * 



" In haste, yours truly." 



Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, August 13, 1829. 

" My Dear Sir : Baron Krudner left here this morning, in all respects well satis- 
fied, lie made no complaints, nor had he cause for any. There is a Mr. Ehind here, 
whom we have appointed Consul at Odessa. He has been very strongly recommended 
— appears to be a very sensible, worthy man, and, between us, I have it in contem- 
plation to associate with him Offley to renew the negotiation with the Porte. I am 
persuaded I can succeed. Krudner is anxious that he should. Enquire about Ehind, 
and let me know. The President is much better, and keeps us hard at work. He is 
determined to do all the good he can. We are trying to get him off to the Rip-Eaps 
for a few weeks, and shall succeed. Why is it that the Courier and Post are so in- 
cessant in their attacks upon Don Miguel ? Mr. Brent's dispatches in regard to him 
are much more favorable. He says (and there is no doubt of it), that the publications 
of that character in the English papers are the result of combined efforts fro:n the 
opposition at home. Mr. Torlarde becomes very uneasy,jand his feelings are the more 
excited by the circumstance of the arrival and presentiition of the new Charge from 
Brazil. We shall soon have to decide. I fear, my dear sir, I shall give you too much 
trouble about my affiiirs. 

'' In haste, yours, &c. 

" P. S. Ask our good friends the Huygenses when they are coming home, and 
what I can do for them. Tell them Washington is the healthiest place in the known 
world— at least so I try to make myself think." 

"Washington, Septembers, 1829. 
"The credulity of tlie public in regard to the numerous dissensions in the present 
Cabinet is amusing, and so far as it relates to our friends mortifying. You are able 



144 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

to appreciate the means I possess to form an accurate judgment upon the matter, 
and if you think mj statements entitled to confidence, and are disposed, as I have no 
doubt you will be, to check silly desires of the enemy, I beg you to say, as in truth 
you may, tliat there is not a particle of truth in any of those inventions of a despair- 
ing and discredited faction. There has been no question decided by the Govern- 
ment since the 4th of March upon which the slightest diversity of opinion has exist- 
ed between the different members of the Cabinet ; between the President and them 
collectively, and between them individually, the utmost harmony and the kindest 
feelings exist, and they are all sedulously engagetl, each in his respective sphere, in 
laboring to deserve the approbation of those by whom they have been selected to 
■ serve. 'No ground for your apprehensions, if the strictness of my principles did not 
of itself afford sufficient security. 

" The President spoke very affectionately of you to-day, as did Mr. Vaugh'an, 
whom I begin to like more and more. 

" Kemember me kindly to the ladies. Keep a good look-out upon John, that he 
does not spend too much money. IIo has risen a good deal in my estimation by the 
manner in which he has attended to his business at Oswego. Truly yours, 

"M. Van Bueen. 
"Jas. a. Hamilton, Esq." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, September 11, 1829. 

" Dear Sir : It gives me pleasui-e to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 

3d instant, and to thank you for the friendly concern which you have expressed for 

my health. 

"It is my steady object to administer the Government according to the laics ; and 

to advance the good of the country by a faithful discharge of my duty. And should 

Providence enable me to succeed, or, rather, to terminate my course far short of 

your favorable anticipations, I shall be amply rewarded for the cares and labors 

which it imposes upon me. 

"Your friend and obedient servant." 

M. Van Bcren to J. A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, September 11, 1820. 
" Dear Sir : Mr. B. Trist (whom I take pleasure in introducing to your kind 
attention) will deliver you the papers for Mr. Rbind. Do me the favor to send for 
him and deliver them to him. It cannot be necessary to urge upon you nor to ask 
you to impress upon Mr. Rhind the importance of keeping the whole matter an 
entire secret. He will not, I trust, make the slightest exception to this. It is also 
important that he should be off as soon as possible. It has not been thought neces- 
sary to make Mr. Rhind an advance towards his expenses, as provision is made for 
them, when he arrives, and as he was going out independent of his appointment. 

"In haste, your friend." 

M. Van Bcren to J. A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, September 21, 1829. 
"MtDeaeSir: You are right in respect to my wislies as to Mr. Rhind's de- 



KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTOIS'. 145 

parture. I wish him, by all means, to go as soon as he can. The publication of his 
appointment as Consul to Odessa will furnish a cover. ******* 

" Yours, in haste." 

M. Van Buren to J. A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, September, 1829. 

" My Deae Sik : It cannot be necessary to trouble the President with this affair. 
I will answer for "Worth's fidelity to his engagements. 

" What is to be done with the indiscretion of our Editors ? The last article in the 
Courier and Bnquirer is abominable. First, they abuse Don Miguel incessantly, and 
without discretion, and when we are upon the point of acting, they endeavor to 
create the impression that what we may do will be done to annoy England, and that, 
at a moment when we are about commencing the most delicate and important 
negotiations with her. I told Mr. Ehind that if he hinted to Major Noah the sub- 
ject entrusted to him, I should see it in the papers. The idle vanity of being thought 
to be in the secret in relation to public affairs has always been too strong for any 
considerations of discretion, with Noah. Althoiigh he has endeavored to draw 
public attention to the subject, I am confident Mr. Ehind cannot have disregarded 
my injunctions. Baron Krudner complains bitterly of the marked partiality of the 
Courier and Enquirer, and Evening Post in the publication of news from the East, 
and of their severe denunciations of Russia. Whence the necessity for this ? Russia 
has always been the friend of the United States, and wishes now to cultivate the 
best relations with us, and may in a possible, not to say probable, result of the war 
in the East, be highly useful to us. I told him that we had nothing to do with the 
papers, could not control them if we would, and must not be held responsible for 
their acts ; and I am strongly tempted to cause such a declaration to be made in the 
Telegraph. It is difficult to make any but the English understand the character of 
the Press in this Country, and its relation to the Government. 

" I wisli you would speak to Bennett, from whose prudence I expect much ; — 
beg him to discard the miserable vanity of speculating in advance upon the special 
movements of the Government for the purpose of being supposed to be advised of 
them — to state foreign news fairly and frankly, without embarking in foreign feel- 
ings; doing justice to all and remarking with calmness and impartiality upon the 
credit that is due to the different accounts and probable results, without embarking 
on the side of either ! We have friendly relations with all, and desire to maintain 
them. 

"Although it is wiser to avoid following the account of English papers, there is 
no necessity for avowing, as was done in the Enquirer, ****** 

" Tiie President never was better. He wants more and better pens, and the 
price of them, so that he can pay, which, you know, is an aff'air of principle with him. 

" Try a gold one— such were Mr. Jeff'erson's. 

" Yours, cordially." 

M. Van Buren to J. A. Hamilton. 

" September 24, 1S29. 
"I\[y Dear Hamilton: I have been a little indisposed for a few days, but con- 
stantly at work, and am now ready for Van Ness, whom I expect hero in a day or 
10 



146 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

two. I am obliged b/ your suggestions ia relation to tbe expressions in the docu- 
ment submitted to your inspection. It was looked into at the time by Mr. Brent, 
Mr. N. Trist, and myself, and we concUuled that either expression was allowable, 
and that such appeared to be the sense of others. Although no great judge in such 
matters, I like to see things right. Eaton has a mode of expression peculiar to him- 
self, but I understand is generally found strictly correct when looked into. I have 
found it so, when I quarrelled with him for his peculiarities. 

" I have the greatest confidence in our friend Huygens in all respects, but he is 
wrong in this case. Brent, at Lisbon, was instructed to establish an intercourse 
with the government in fact, however constituted. All that I had to do, was to be 
well advised of the facts, — that was done by writing to Brent, whose report repels 
all idea of a change, and shows that tlie reports about Don Miguel are in a great 
degree the result of combination and de.Mgn on the part of his opponents. If you 
look at the English papers, you will find that they are evidently preparing the public 
mind for his resignation. They say we have no right to interfere with him. No 
other Power has shown a disposition to do so, and Portugal is quiet. What then 
are we to do? We must have intercourse with his government, and are we to act 
like children, pouting and saying, ' You have behaved naughty, and therefore we 
Avon't speak to you, except so far as is actually necessary.' Mr. Torlarde received 
instructions from his government to come home if, contrary to our known principles, 
his recognition was longer delayed — but he has behaved extremely well. Tiie only 
o-rounds upon which we could further refrain must be the legitimacy of his title or 
bis overthrow of the Constitution. The first would be madness, and, acting upon 
the last, we ought for the same reason to refuse diplomatic relations with Spain and 
France. I have told him I would settle the question early next week. 

"You are right as to the inexpediency of publishing Mr. Ehind's appointment. 
It was done by mistake, but without much fault, — but I believe it will do no harm. 
They will talk about it a week or two, and then they will forget it. Everything 
will depend upon the State of the War when he reaches there. If the Russians are 
•successful, our success is certain. 

" I am much embarrassed about Poinsett.— My last accounts from Yera Cruz 
say that bis house is protected by Mexican troops, and bring a very spirited and 
able address of his in replying to the resolution of the Mexican State Government 
instructing their members in Congress to move his expulsion. The vote in Congress 
was 23 to 19, which appears to be tbe state of parties in the popular branch. In 
the Senate the opposition have the majority, tlie time of their election not having 
.expired." 

The Eaton Affair in the Cabinet. 

"I would rather pull a tooth than say a word to you upon the other subject, 
although you look at it with higher views. I think you have a little of McLnne's 
fondness for gossip. Kow, I have so strong an aversion to it, and that is so well 
known, that there is perhaps no one in the city who is not better advised upon the 
point than I am. I will state a few general facts : It appears that before the appoint- 
ment of the Cabinet, General Jackson had been informed by his friend Dr. Ely, that 
he had been told by a Presbyterian clergyman of standing, that Mrs. Eaton had had 
ail abortion produced of a child, of which Eaton was the father. This Avas pressed 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 147 

upon bim through various confidential channels, and lie was so much paralyzed bj it 
that be suffered it to come to Eaton's knowledge. Mrs. Eaton immediately went to 
Philadelphia and demanded the author, which was promised to be given in due 
time. Afrer the President's return to Washington from the Rip-Raps, bis.clergy- 
man, Dr. Campbell, called upon him, and told him that he was the Presbyterian 
clergyman referred to, and then told bim a story tliat he said had been told him by 
a Dr. Somebody, who is now dead, which contained a relation of his having been 
sent for, the child being born before he arrived, &c., «&c.— an extremely improbable 
tale— which, he said, he had communicated to Dr. Ely for good and pious purposes, 
and from friendly motives to General Jackson. The General, with his characteristic 
sagacity and promptness, urged him to give him the time when that took place, say- 
ing that this was the first specific allegation that had been made to him, and that 
although he could not see why the disclosure bad been made to him, he was disposed, 
since such had been the case, to look into it ; and with him, you know, to undertake 
is to do. 

" He found that Timberlake had been a merchant here, and obtained his books, 
and found by them that he had been in Washington during the whole of the year 
1821 (the period, he says, positively fixed upon by Mr. Campbell), and that of 
course there could have been no inducement for such a step, and the story was conse- 
quently false. He then sent for Mr. Campbell and told him he would satisfy him that 
he had done the woman injustice, and would then expect that, as a minister of the 
gospel, he would make her all the reparation in his power. It was not controverted 
bat that his facts made it out, that such a thing could not have happened in 1821, 
but Campbell said the President had not understood him correctly— that it was in 
'22 or '23, I forget which. The President denied this, and said he could not be 
mistaken, for he had taken a memorandum of the date at the time. The conduct 
of Mr. Campbell excited him considerably, but not so as to induce him to say 
anything at which exception could be taken. There were two other allegations, 
viz., that Timberlake had cut his throat in consequence of suspicion of Eaton, and 

that Mrs. E. paid her board in New York at Mrs. Zeese's. Letters were 

furnished him from several officers who wQve with Timberlake, which repelled the 
idea that he had any such impressions, and he himself had received a letter from 
bim on his last cruise, presenting him (General Jackson) with a Turkish pipe, 
which he (T.) said in his letter he sent through liis (Timberlake's) friend. Major 
Eaton. This was a short time before his death. Dr. Ely had been to New York, 
and reported that that story was without foundation. In the meantime, Dr. 
Campbell addressed a letter to the General, which lield out the idea that the 
General might bring his ofiicial influence to bear upon the matter to crush him, and 
requested its forbearance. This led to a correspondence between them, in which 
the General as usual got decidedly the advantage. Thus things stood when I received 
a summons to attend at his house in the evening on business, where I found the 
whole Cabinet (except Major Eaton), Dr. Ely and Campbell. The old gentleman 
then, tbrougli Major Donelson, read, first, his correspondence with Mr. Campbell, 
second, a protocol of the conversation between Major Donelson (to whom Campbell 
had made the first communication) and Campbell— the letters from the officers, &c. 
Dr. Ely made a full statement of his agency in the matter, and expressed his con- 
viction of the falsity of the New York story, and testified loudly and empliatically 
to the purity and exemplary fairness of the General's conduct in the whole business. 



148 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The General wound the matter up by one of his eloquent speeches, in which he 
stated the manner in which lie had been persecuted by confidential communications ; 
the injustice he had done Major Eaton by writing to him ; the refusal on the part 
of all those who had communications with him to stand forward and justify what 
they had said ; his long acquaintance with Major Eaton ; the ardor of his friendsliip 
for him, and his unlimited confidence in his honor and integrity ; his entire con- 
viction that Mrs. Eaton was a virtuous and persecuted woman ; — declaring that his 
object in sending for us was to repel the insinuation that he wished to give the 
subject a political consequence ; announcing his determination to wash his hands of 
it, and closing with a tolerably emphatic denunciation against any confidential com- 
munications upon the subject for the future. He said, that if any person had come 
forward and establislied, as he had asked them to do, anything dishonest against 
Eaton, he would have instantly cast him ofi", if he had been the last friend he 
had in the world; but that all the world knew, and, if they did not, they should, 
that he never abandoned his friends except for causes well established, «&c. ; and 
so, we broke up. 

" He quit Mr. Campbell's church because he said he had not acted like a Christian, 
and his preaching would be lost upon him. He now goes to Dr. Post's, and the 
gossips say that ]ie has been driven from pillar to post, regarding Campbell (of 
whom I think veryl'ghtly) as a pillar in the church. A quarrel between Eaton 
and Branch, from a supposition on the part of the former that B. had not used Mr. 
E, properly, was threatened. All the agency I have taken in the matter has been 
to prevent violence in that, and one other, respect. It has given rise to strong 
feelings in that quarter, which may or may not pass over. The President has, since 
that time, talked freely and confidentially with me upon the subject. He feels 
deeply for Eaton, but is in better health and spirits than I ever knew him — more 
bright, by far, than when you were here, and will not do a weak or imprudent 
thing of any description. Removals of Towson and others, sometimes reaching 
higher, are talked about ; but you need have no apprehension that the wheels of 
Government will stop in consequence of it. It has had a tendency to check the 
intermeddling spirit of some, and, so far, has done good. 

" Now you have the whole story. 

" Your friend." 

Chaeles RniND to James A. Hamilton. 

" New York, October 14, 1829. 

"Deae Sir: I beg you to accept my grateful acknowledgements for the very 
friendly inannor in which you have been pleased to introduce me to Commodore 
Biddle. 

" I shall send Mr. Offley's letter to Mr. Van Buren by the mail of to-morrow, 
and if you will do me the favor to indorse the Bond (as Consul), and bring it with 
you to your oflice to-morrow morning, I will send both in one enclosure. 

" I also ask the favor of you to address a note to Commodore Biddle quoting Mr. 
Van Buren's letter so far as regards my expenses. I leave my own private alliiirs 
luitouihed, and shall proceed on my mission with the sole view of accomplishing it, 
leaving my commercial arrangements entirely out of the question. As Mr. Van Buren 
observes, my expenses only are to be paid, and this I wish the Commoiore to under- 
stand. The remuneration for services, I leave entirely to the President and Mr. Van 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 149 

Buren, and that is a matter of no importance in my view of tlie subject,— my aim 
being entirely to obtain the vast commerce which will afltbrd life and vigor to the 
shipping interest now so mucli depressed. The immense importance of this trade 
is not known, but if we succeed in making a treaty (of which I have no doubt), I 
venture to assert that no adininistralion since the days of Washington wUl have 
efiected an object of such vast importance; when developed, it cannot fail to draw 
applause from every quarter of the Union. 

" I indulge the fond hope that before Congress adjourns, I shall return with a 
satisfactory treaty, opening to us this immense field for the enterprise of our citizens ; 
and I assure you, it will be one of the most gratifying circumstances in my whole 
life, to be an humble instrument in effecting it. I shall not return without a treaty 
or permission to open the commerce of that sea — and as / must return to make my 
commercial arrangements, and arrange my private affairs, I shall use every effort 
to be here early in the spring. 

"With great respect and esteem, I am, dear sir, your obedient servant. 

" P. S. With the exception of my son and yourself, no one is aware of my move- 
ments. I shall not even take leave of my family, but embark silently." 

M. Vax Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" W^ASHixGTON, October 15, 1829. 

"Dear Sir : I hate to plague you, but you may as well die for an old sheep as a 
lamb, and I do not know where that reprobate son of mine is, but take it for granted 
he is on his way. If not, I wish you would give him a sound flogging for not writing 
to me. Now for business. 

" I have just finished a despatch for Madrid, which I would give a crown to be able 
to show to you. Lewis, whom I begin to like very well, is coming to New York. 
Tor God's sake, enable him to distinguish the honest men from the rogues. 

"How is Eliza? She is a bad girl that she won't write me. The President's 
health really was never better, nor mine. * * * j have dined with Yaughan 
about seven times this winter. He behaves extremely well. My business, though 
unfinished, has become very easy and agreeable, and I am spending my time very 
pleasantly. 

" Remember me to Mrs. H., and don't forget to let Eliza spend the winter here. 

" Yours truly, 

" M. Van Buren. 
"James A. HAmuTON." 

President Jackson's Message, 1829. 

In November, 1829, Van Buren, Lewis, and other friends of the President 
being embarrassed in relation to some parts of the proposed Jlessage, and parti- 
cularly such parts as related to the Bank of the United States, urged me to go 
to Washington in the hope that I might be useful. 

From a letter now before me, addressed to a friend, written at the Presi- 
dent's house, Washington, Nov. 28, 1829, I quote : 

Ou my arrival, yesterday, at half past 3 o'clock, I went to Van Bureu's, 



150 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

and received a most pleasing reception; after dinner, I came to the President's 
house, where I had a little conversation with him. and an invitation to break- 
fast this morning; after breakfast the President entered upon all his matters; 
told me he wanted my time, and in order that I might give it to him with 
greater facility, desired me to stay with him, and designated a room which I 
am now occupying amid scraps and drafts of all kinds. I found that the draft 
of the message was the work of different hands. That which referred to the 
Indians, extended over several pages. The Bank of the United States was 
attacked at great length in a loose, newspaper, slashing style. I was at work 
until about four o'clock in the morning ; during the night the President, who 
slept in an adjoining room, being awakened by my repairing my fire, came into 
my room in his night gown, and said, " My dear Colocel, Why are you up so 
late ? " I replied, " I am at my work which I mean to iinish before I sleep." 
He then called his mulatto servant, who slept on a rug in his room, to come 
and remain in my room to keep the fire going. I went to bed at five o'clock, 
and at eight, having dressed myself, I went into his room to inform him that 
the woi'k was finished. He asked, " What have you said about the Bank? " I 
replied, "Very little." I then read what I had written. "The charter of the 
Bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its stockholders will most 
probably apply for a renewal of their privileges. In order to avoid the evils 
resulting from precipitancy in a measure involving such important principles, 
such deep pecuniary interests, I feel I cannot do justice to the parties interested 
too soon, to present it to the deliberate consideration of the legislature and the 
people. Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law creating the 
bank are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens ; and it must 
be admitted by all that it has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform 
and sound currency." When I stopped here, he said, " Do you think t>hat is 
all I ought to say ? " I answered, " I think you ought to say nothing at present 
about the bank." 

He replied, " Oh ! My friend, I am pledged against the bank, but if you 
think that is enough, so let it be." Giving him the message as I had arranged 
its various parts, and copied it, T left it with him, and returned to my room, 
dressed myself, and went over to Van Buren's to breakfast, taking with me the 
draft of what I had written in regard to the bank. When I came in. Van 
Buren said, " Well, Hamilton, what is done ? " I replied, "the work is finished. 
I could not induce him to let me omit everything as to the bank, and here is 
what he agrees to." I then read the above paragraph, and said to him : " Van 
Buren, you are against the bank on the ground of its unconstitutionality." He 
said, "Oh ! no, I believe with Mr. Madison that the contemporaneous recognition 
of the constitutional power to establish a bank by all the departments of the 
government, and with the concurrence of the people, has settled that question in 
favor of the power." See Mr. Madison's message of the 30th of January, 1815. 

A letter to a friend, dated, President's house, Monday evening, Nov. 30, 
1829, says : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 151 

"I have only time after a long day's work to write : I am almost well ; and in 
order to be quite so, I abstain from all wine and nearly all food. 

" The President's message now entirely engrosses us, and you will say it must 
have great interest, when you learn that I was at work until 12 o'clock last night, 
and, again, at 7 this morning, and from that time to this, without more interruption 
than breakfast and dinner. It will be quite interesting. 

" J. A. Hamilton." 

I quote from a letter to a discreet friend : 

President's House, 3 o'clock P. M., Dec. 3, 1829. 

" I gave the President the hour for a confidential conversation which he requested 
last night, and I now relate to yeu what occurred, in order that it may be preserved 
in this form. After talking about the message, the revision of which I supposed I 
had completed, which occupied me from 10 to 4 o'clock in the morning, and also 
touching upon the difficulties in the cabinet, growing out of a certain delicate matter, 
he said, ' Ool. Hamilton, I named to you that I wished to have a confidential con- 
versation with you : what I am now going to say, I never breathed to any human 
being. You must know that the public mind is turned to Van Buren as the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and I am afraid that his being Secretary of State will be 
an objection to him, for everything will be done against him by Calhoun. Now 
when he leaves the Cabinet, which cannot be very soon, I have determined you shall 
(if you will) take his place. It cannot be very soon, but will be so.' I replied, 
' General, in answer to your suggestion, I can only say that there is no situation 
in which you can place me that I am not willing to serve you.' ' Very well,' said 
he, ' so let it rest until the time arrives.' We then conversed upon sundry other 
matters. At present, I make no comment on this unexpected and singular sugges- 
tion, but I beheve I understand it." 

PRESIDENT Jackson to James A. Hamilton 

" Washington, December 19, 1829. 

" My Dear Sir : It is a source of much gratification to me that the message has 
been so generally well received both by my friends and a great portion of my political 
enemies. I have received from Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, 
and Ohio, very flattering congratulations on this subject. I was aware the bank 
question would be disapproved by all the sordid and interested who prize self- 
interest more than the perpetuity of our liberty, and the blessings of a free republican 
government. * * * fj^g confidence reposed by my country dictated to my con- 
science that now was the proper time, and, although I disliked to act contrary to 
the opinion of so great a majority of my cabinet, I could not shrink from a duty so 
imperious to the safety and purity of our free institutions as I considered this to be. 
I have brought it before the people, and I have confidence that they will do their 
duty. 

" I will thank you for your ideas on the details of my proposed National Bank. 
First, as a bank of deposit for the facility of the transfer of public moneys and the 
establishment of a sound and uniform currency, making, if you please, the Custom- 
house a branch to this National Bank, and attaching it to the Treasury Department. 



152 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The other of a mixed charactei* -which may fulfil all the purposes of a bank, and be 
free from the infringement of State rights and our Constitution. So soon as your 
leisure will permit, I will thank you for your views upon this important subject, that 
I may use them when it may become necessary in the way you have suggested. I 
am hapi^y to hear that on your return you found your amiable family well, to whom 
I pray yon to present me most respectfully. 

" Sincerely your friend, 

"Andrew Jackson." 

James A. Hamilton to Duff Green, Esq. 

"New York, December 19, 1829, 3 o'clock p. m. 

" Dear Sir: Your letter of the ICth instant is this moment received. The inti- 
mation that / ani to le charged with a speculation, &c., surprises me ; as much 
because I have not heard of or seen the article or paper to which you refer, as from 
its being wholly groundless. I never have been connected with the Bank in any 
way or manner whatever, and never made a purchase or engaged in a speculation in 
its stock, directly or tlirough the intervention of any other persons. 

" I arrived in this city late Tuesday evening, and the message was received early 
the next morning, and since my return I have been continually unwell and engaged 
in Court, which must be my excuse for not having attended to your particular busi- 
ness. As the Court adjourned to-day, I am now relieved, and will, as far as my 
health will permit, endeavor to ascertain whether the money can be borrowed or 
not. In haste, yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Andrew Jackson. 

" New York, December 22, 1829. 

" My Dear Sir : I enclose a letter received by me from our friend General Green, 
and beg leave to call your attention to the last paragraph. This letter was received 
late on Saturday or Monday. I called upon the Editor of the Daily Advertiser to 
examine his files (for I had not heard of the paragraph referred to). I did so, and 
inquired of the Editor whether any allusion was intended to be made to me. He 
assured me unhesitatingly that he had no such intention, that I had not been men- 
tioned or referred to as in the remotest degree connected with the speculations com- 
mented upon, and this he repeated to a friend of mine who interrogated him on the 
subject. Indeed the paragraph itself does not allude to any person whatever. In 
addition to this, I think it due to myself to declare in the most emphatic manner 
that I never had any connection with the Bank of the United States ; that I never 
bought or sold or speculated in its stock directly or indirectly; and that I never 
aftorded any information of any kind to any person whatever, in relation to the 
Bank with a view to speculate in the stock. I feel that it is due to myself thus to 
meet and put down the slightest intimation of such an abuse of the confidence you 
have honored me with in relation to this subject." 

Doff Green to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, December 31, 1829. 
"Dear Sir: Yours of the 27th instant is before me. I, on the day before yes- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A.HAMILTON. 153 

terday, bad a conversation Avitli the President and explained'to him the whole mat- 
ter. As I wrote to you a few days since, I coupled the fact that on the same day 
that the article from the Daily appeared in the Journal^ I heard that a report 
was current in the streets tliat you had come here for the purpose of writing the 
President's message. I am glad to hear that the charge has not been made against 
you, and if you suspect any one else it is due to all others that I should say that the 
suspicion that the article was intended for you originated as 1 have stated. 

" Yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Mons. le Baron de Sacken, &c., &c. 

" Washington, November 25, 1830. 

"Dear Sir: I thank you for the service you have rendered me by permitting 
me to be correctly informed by the perusal of the instructions, &c., themselves, of the 
principles which govern the allied Sovereigns. I regret, however, that the restric- 
tions under which I received that knowledge do not allow me so to use it as to ena- 
ble me to disabuse the public mind here on so interesting a subject. You may have 
remarked that notwithstanding the frequent avowals of the Executive of the United 
States of his confidence in the friendship of the Imperial Government — the repeated 
manifestations that the people of the United States have received of that friendship, 
the public sentiment here is poisoned by the belief that his Imperial Majesty and 
his Allies are engaged in a crusade against all representative governments. 

" With very great respect and regard, I remain, dear sir, 

" Your obedient servant, &c." 

Andrew J. Donelson, President's Private Secretary, to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington City, November 28, 1831. 

" Dear Sir : Allow me to tender to you and Mrs. Hamilton my thanks for the 
hospitable attention extended to Mrs. Donelson and her party during her recent 
visit to your city. It would have afforded me much pleasure to have shared them, 
but as I could not without neglecting my business here, I trust that you will not 
allow my account as your debtor to be at all diminished. You may have heard 
before this reaches you of the illness of the Pi-esident. He has been attacked with 
,^ the common intermittent fever of this place, and has been obliged to submit to the 
ordinary remedies. They liave not yet entirely broken the fever, but it is so much 
moderated that we look upon the patient as convalescent. The alarm of some of our 
friends may have prepared you for a less favorable account of this attack than this. 
Our family is otherwise in good health. Major Lewis and myself have both had 
attacks similar to those of the President, but less violent. 

" With my best wishes, &c., I am, with great respect, yours." 

The President, on 1st January, 1830, addressed to James A. Hamilton the 
following letter : 

" My Dear Sir : Your letter of the 22d ultimo was received in due course of 
mail, and in reply I have to observe that I regret you should have thought it neces- 
sary to declare to me that you had no agency in speculating in the bank stock or 
making advantage of your knowledge of my opposition to a recharteriug of the Bank 



154 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of the United States. You are surely aware of iny exalted opinion of your virtue 
and honesty, and this must convince you that I thinlc you incapable of any thing 
dishonorable, dishonest or unfair. 

" The last paragrapli of Gen. Green's letter surprised me, and I sought an inter- 
view with him to be infoi*med on what he rested the assertion of Mr. Biddle's decla- 
ration with regard to me and my Cabinet being friendly to the recharter of the Bank. 
He gave ine the name of his informant and reasons for his belief that it was true ; 
for myself I cannot believe it ; for Major Biddle acknowledged my frankness to him 
on this subject to Major Lewis and others. I can scarcely believe that he, for the 
sake of vile speculation, would state what he knew to be false. But the longer we 
live the more we will learn of mankind, and I fear its morale is not improving as 

fast as I could wish it. Believe me your friend. 

" Andeew Jackson," 

Col. William B. Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, January 4, 1830. 
" Mt Dea'; Sir : Mr. Van Buren, I think, has much more to fear from his own than 
the friends of Mr. Calhoun. The publication in the New York Goiirier putting forth 
the claims of Mr. Van Buren as the successor of General Jackson, has produced a 
good deal of excitement here among a certain description of politicians, and I fear 
will do Mr. A^an Buren no good. The editorial article alluded to, was certainly very 
indiscreet and ill-timed. It will be supposed by some of the General's real friends, 
who do not understand the present state of things, that it evidences a disposition, on 
the part of Mr. Van Buren, to cut loose from him, and set up for himself. 

"Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Andrew Jackson. 

"New Yoek, January 4, 1830. 

" Mt Deae Sib : I have the pleasure to enclose a few hints on the subject of 
Banks or Offices of Deposit, to assist the fiscal operations of the Treasury, and to 
establish a uniform currency. It is not expected that such an adjunct to the Treas- 
ury Department will perform all the functions of a Bank, in its general acceptation. 
Indeed the principal end of such an institution, which is, by means of its credit, to 
extend the circulating medium of the country to the limit which the laws of com- 
merce assign to it, is expressly denied to the managers of these Banks or Offices of 
Deposit. The issue of notes is confined to the actual deposits of Gold or Silver, or 
Bank-notes convertible into Gold or Silver, and at the standard value of those 
metals ; whereas a Bank of discount limits or ought to limit its issues, not by the 
amount of its specie capital and deposits, but by the amount of circulation which the 
commercial operations of the community can abs(>rb; and this can always be done 
without, or with a very small specie capital ; provided the business of the Bank is 
confined, as it ought invariably to be, to discounting business paper, or in other 
words, notes or bills of exchange, created by commercial interchanges. The pro- 
posed Banks or Offices of Deposit, consequently, will not have the power of assisting 
the Government or individuals by loans or advances in any emergency, a defect 
which may be seriously felt by both, should the country be exposed to war, but 
which is incident to their organization, and cannot be avoided without running tho 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 155 

risk of far greater evils. For it will be admitted that it would be liighly indiscreet 
to intrust the funds and the credit of the Government to the management of indi- 
viduals, unless their industry, vigilance and caution should be called into action by 
motives of strong personal and pecuniary interest; such an interest as the Directors 
of a Bank, who are stockholders, are supposed always to have in the institutions 
committed to their management. 

"As I do not mean to extend this letter to a dissertation upon Banking, I must 
return to the matter in hand. I have by marginal notes explained the reasons for 
the difterent j^rovisions of the project I have formed, and shall be happy if what I 
have done, or any part of it, can be in the slightest degree useful to you in building 
upon it a better plan. I intend to send you shortly a plan of a Bank of Discount as 
well as Deposit; which will not be obnoxious to any constitutional objection, be- 
cause it will be, like any other of its offices, exclusively under the direction and 
control of ihe Government. With truest attachment 

''I remain your friend." 

I.— A PROJECT TO CREATE OFFICES OF DEPOSIT IN AID OF THE FIS- 
CAL OPERATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT, AND TO ESTABLISH 
A UNIFORM CURRENCY. 

" 1st. Offices of Deposit shall be established in the several places following, viz. : 
New York, Philadelphia, &c., &c. (selecting such places on the seaboard and the 
interior, as are most convenient for receiving the public revenues, and such other 
places as Congress may from time to time direct). 

" 2d. These Offices shall be under the direction of five Commissioners (one of 
whom is to be designated as President), to be appointed as Congress may direct for 
one year, and not to be appointed longer than for three years in succession. 

" 3d. The respective Commissioners for the time being shall ha^e power to ap- 
point, with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury, a Cashier and such 
other officers, clerks and servants under them, as shall be necessary for executing 
the business of their said office, and to allow them, with the assent of the Secretary 
of the Treasury, such compensation as shall be reasonable, for their respective ser- 
vices. And the Commissioners shall exercise such other powers for the well-govern- 
ing and ordering of the said officers as shall be prescribed, fixed, and determined by 
the laws, regulations and ordinances of the said Office of Deposit. 

"4th. The revenues of the Government of the United States diall be deposited 
in the said offices, and be held by the said Commissioners in trust for the said Gov- 
ernment, or passed from time to time to the credit of the Treasurer of the United 
States, or such other officer as Congress may direct. 

" 5th. The said Commissioners of the said offices respectively shall furnish the 
Secretary of the Treasury from time to time, as often as he may require, not exceed- 
ing once a week, with statements of the amount of deposits made in their several 
offices, and also the amount of notes issued by them respectively ; distinguishing the 
amount of deposits on public and private account^, and the amount of specie and 
public stocks on hand : and the said Secretary shall have a right to inspect such 
general accounts of the books of the said office as shall relate to such statements, 
provided that this shall not be construed into a right in the Commissioners to give 
the names or amounts of individual deposits, or in the Secretary of the Treasury to 
inspect the accounts of any private individual or individuals with the said office. 



156 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" 6th. The said Commissioners shall receive in deposit and hold in trust to the 
use of the person -who may deposit the same, any sum of money of any individual, 
or individuals, or body corporate, and give the depositor credit for the same. 

" 7th. The said Commissioners of the respective offices shall at the said office re- 
deliver to the depositor, upon his check, the amount of such deposit in gold or sil- 
ver coin, or in the notes of the said office payable on. demand in like coin ; deduct- 
ing from the amount of said deposit | of one per cent, for the safe keeping of the 
same. 

" 8th. Each depositor may, upon giving notice of his intention to leave in de- 
posit the money deposited as aforesaid in the said office for the term of ninety days, 
receive a note payable at the end of that time, with interest at the rate of (3^0 three 
per cent, per annum ; and if the said note shall be presented for payment and paid, 
before it shall have become due, the interest thereon shall not, nor shall any part 
thereof be paid. The Commissioners shall be at liberty, upon the presentation of 
any such post note before it shall fall due, to pay the same or not as the interest or 
convenience of the said office may dictate. If any post note shall not be presented 
at the office -vvherefrom it was issued, when it falls due or within three days after, 
the interest on said note when thereafter the same shall be paid, shall not be com- 
puted for a longer time than up to the date it became payable. 

" 9th. The said Commissioners may issue notes upon deposit, payable on demand 
or payable at the end of ninety days on interest as is above stated ; but no note shall 
be issued for a sum less than five dollars. All notes issued by the Commissioners of 
said offices respectively, shall be signed by the President and Cashier of such office, 
and shall be payable to the bearer at their offices respectively, in gold or silver coin ; 
and the good faith and the property of the United States is hereby pledged for the 
due, punctual and true payment of the notes of said offices, and the repayment of all 
deposits made therein. 

" The Commissioners of said offices respectively may, from time to time, under 
the direction, and with the assent, of the Secretary of the Treasury, invest in the pub- 
lic stocks of the United States, or of the several States, not more than ( ) per 
cent, of the gross amount of the deposits made in the respective offices. The said 
stock to be held by the said Commissioners in trust to pay tlie amount of the said 
deposits ; the notes issued thereon ; and the interest to accrue on such notes as may 
be at interest, as is hereinbefore stated : and they shall receive the interest on divi- 
dends on said stock and reinvest the same in the public stocks, which stocks shall 
be held by the said Commissioners in trust as aforesaid. 

" 11th. The notes or bills of the said Commissioners, originally made payable on 
demand, or which shall be past due, and payable on demand, shall be receivable 
in all payments to the United States unless otherwise directed by Congress. 

" 12th. The said Commissioners, when required by the Secretary of tlie Treasury, 
shall give the necessary facilities for transferring the public funds from place to 
place within the United States or the Territories thereof, and for distributing the 
same in payment of the public creditors ; and shall also do and perform the several 
and respective duties of the Commissioners of loans for the several States, or any 
one or more of them, wben required by law. 

"18th. As to counterfeiting notes, and as to frauds, adopt the 18th and 19th 
sections of Act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States, 
passed April 10th, 1826 (see lugersoll's Digest, edition of 1821, page 93), altering 
them so as to make them conform to this project. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 157 

II.— COLLECTION OF THE PUBLIC REVEiTUE. ] 

" 1st. All bonds, contracts or other agreements for the payment of money to the 
United States, as well as all money received by any of its officers or other persons, 
belonging to the United States, shall furthwith and withont delay be deposited for 
collection or safe keeping in such one of the said offices as shall be most convenient 
to the said officer or other person who may take the said bonds, &c., or collect and 
receive the said moneys, and as may be designated for thatpnrpose by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, the Postmaster-General, the Commissioners of the Land Office, or 
the agent of the Treasury. 

" 2d. The Collectors of the several ports of the United States shall daily and 
every day, as bonds are executed to secure the payment of duties of the United 
States, deposit the said bonds for collection in such one of the said offices of deposit 
as may be most convenient to the Custom House of said port, and shall be desig- 
nated by the Secretary of the Treasury, and the said Collector so depositing the said 
bonds shall be charged with the amount of the same, and the said Collector shall 
also daily, and every day, deposit in the said office all sums of money received by 
him in payment of duties, or in deposit to secure the payment of duties ; and the 
amount of all sums of money received by him for fees, fines, penalties, forfeitures or 
otherwise, and he shall be charged with the amount of the same. 

•' 3d. The said Collector who shall be so charged with the said bonds, or with 
the amount of money deposited by him, shall be discharged from the amount of such 
of the said bonds as shall be paid, whenever he shall transfer the amount paid 
thereon to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, and also from the amount 
of such of the said bonds as are not paid, whenever they are transferred to the ac- 
count of the District Attorney of the United States in manner hereinafter mentioned : 
and the said Collector shall be also discharged from the amount of such of the said 
sums of money so deposited by and charged to him, as he shall disburse in the course 
of business or expenses of his office, in the manner hereinafter mentioned, or as he 
shall transfer to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States. 

" 4th. All payments by the said Collector shall be made upon his check, counter- 
signed by the Cashier, and made payable to the order of the person receiving the 
same ; and the said check shall on the back thereof contain a brief statement of the 
account for which the said check is given ; whether for a return of deposit, or for 
payment of salaries, or other expenses, and upon all payments so made, except for 
a return of deposit; the said Collector shall take receipts in manner and form as is 
now required by the regulations of his office. 

" 5th. Whenever any such bond, or bonds, shall remain unpaid on the day it falls 
due, it shall be the duty of the said Commissioner, immediately after the said office 
shall be closed, to cause a copy of said bond or bonds to be sent to the office of the 
District Attorney of the United States for the said district, and to charge him with 
the same in account with the said office, and the said District Attorney shall forth- 
with put the said bond in suit, and prosecute the same with effect ; and the said Dis- 
trict Attorney shall be discharged from the amount of the said bonds so charged 
against him, or such part thereof as shall be paid ; and he shall be discharged from 
such other part as shall not be paid, whenever he shall deposit in the said bank a 
certificate of the Clerk of the District Court in the district to which he is appointed, 
stating that a judgment has been recovered on such bonds, and that an execution has 



158 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

been issued thereon against the property of the defendant or defendants against whom 
the said judgment is entered, together with the certificate of the Marshal of the said 
or any other district that he has received such execution from the said Attorney; 
or whenever a suit is instituted upon any of the said bonds, and the parties to said 
bonds, or their legal representatives, cannot be fonnd, which shall be proved by a 
return of the Marshal of non est inventus to tliose writs of Capias issued three suc- 
cessive terms against the parties to the said bonds or to the legal representative of 
such of the said parties as are then dead ; and when the certificate of tlie clerk of 
the said court to tliat eifect is produced and deposited in the said office, the said Dis- 
trict Attorney shall be paid by the Collector from whence the said bond was re- 
ceived, his costs in said suit, to be taxed by the Judge of the Court in which the 
same was instituted, whenever the said District Attorney shall be discharged from 
the amount of any bonds so charged to him, provided the said costs have not been 
paid by the defendants in the said suits. 

" 6th. Tlie Marshal, who shall receive the said execution from the District At- 
torney, shall be charged with the amount directed to be levied thereupon, and shall 
be discharged from the same by payment into the said office of deposit tlie amount 
collected by him on the said execution or ujjon depositing in the said office of de- 
posit, a certificate of the Clerk of the said court, and of the said District Attorney 
that the said executions have been returned unsatisfied. 

" 7th. All furtlier proceedings for the purpose of recovering the amount due upon 
the said bond or judgments must be instituted upon a case siibmitted to the Agent 
of the Treasury and by his direction. 

" 8th. The receiver of moneys for the sale of lands must be required to make de- 
posits, &c., &c. (not being sufficiently acquainted with the course of these proceed- 
ings, I cannot make any provisions in regard to them. The same in regard to post- 
masters)." 

III.— DISBUESEMENT OF PUBLIC MONEY. 

" 1st. The regulations of the Treasury now existing in regard to the deposits, to 
the credit of the Treasurer, and of the several Post Offices in regard to deposits to 
the credit of the Postmaster-General, may be adopted and sanctioned by law, with 
such alterations as may be deemed salutary. 

" 2d. All moneys appropriated to the Treasury, and which may be drawn from it 
for the payment of the civil, miscellaneous, and diplomatic expenses, the Military 
Establishment, the Naval Establishment, and the Public Debt, shall, as the same or 
parts thereof may required, be carried in the respective offices of deposit most con- 
venient to the j)laces of such expenditure, when the same is within the United States, 
to the credit of the person or persons whose duty it may be to expend the same, and 
the said person or persons shall be charged with the several amounts so carried to 
their credit respectively. 

" 3d. The said person or persons shall not, on any pretence whatever, draw the 
said moneys from the said offices except when the same are required to be expended 
in the manner and for the purposes for which they have been carried to their credit, 
as aforesaid. 

" 4th. The said moneys shall only be drawn from the said oflSces, upon checks 
to the order of the person or persons entitled to receive the same, or his or their 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 159 

agents, and upon the back of the said check there shall be a brief statement of the 
object to which the amount for which the said checks is drawn is applied. The 
form of the said checks shall be devised by the Secretary of the Treasury and fur- 
nished to the several disbursing ofBcers of the Government at the respective offices 
of deposit in which they shall receive the credit aforesaid, and the said several sums 
so carried to their credit in the said office, and with which they are charged in account 
with the United States by the amount drawn on such checks, from the said office : 
provided, always, and it is here expressly declared, that the said disbursing officers 
and several Collectors of the Customs shall be held responsible, as they now are 
under the several Acts of Congress, for that purpose now in force, or which may be 
hereafter enacted, until their several accounts shall be audited and settled at the 
Department of the Treasury, in the same manuer that they are now required and 
directed by law to be credited and settled, and to that end they shall be required to 
take and furnish to the accounting officers of the Treasury, their accounts and 
vouchers at the time, and in the manner and form required by law, and the regula- 
tions now in force or which may hereafter be adopted to tliat end. The Commis- 
sioners of said offices shall not be allowed, as such Commissioners, to purchase or 
hold real estate, except such as shall be requisite for their immediate accommodation 
in the transaction of business, and such only by and with the advice and consent of 
the Secretary of the Treasury. Nor shall they be allowed, directly or indirectly, to 
purchase or hold in their official or individual characters any stock of the United 
States, or either of the States, except as is hereinbefore directed; nor shall the said 
Commissioners or any person or persons employed in their service deal or trade in 
Foreign Bills of Exchange, in buying and selling goods, wares, or merchandises or 
any commodities whatever, except Gold and Silver Coin and Bullion, and all or any 
person or persons by wliom any order or direction for so dealing or trading shall 
have been given, and all and any person or persons as shall have been concerned as 
parties or agents therein, shall forfeit and lose treble the value of the goods, wares, 
merchandises and commodities in which such dealing and trading shall have been 
carried on, one half thereof to the use of the informer, and the other half to the 
use of the United States. 

"J. A. Hamilton-." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Bueen. 

" ISTew York, January 18, 1830. 
" My Deae Sir: Having understood, from various sources, that our commerce to 
the Black Sea and all other places that are supposed to be open to us by the Treaty 
«f Adrianople, is very rapidly increasing, it has occurred to me to suggest to you 
the propriety of your reviewing your determination as to leaving a Commercial 
Treaty to be formed in St. Petersburg. Much time, perhaps a year, will elapse be- 
fore anything can be done there, and the negotiation on the part of Kussia may then 
be committed to a person not entertaining the liberal and modern views on these 
subjects now entertained by Krudner ; but, above all, it is much to be feared that if our 
Yankee enterprise has time to show itself and to enter into competition with the 
Eussian navigators, such will be our superior success as to beget on their parts a dis- 
position by protection-privileges to overcome us, and when that appetite is once 
indulged, you know it is never satisfied. Krudner, it is said, intends to obtain leave 



160 KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of absence to return liome. If this is so, he Trould very promptly settle with you a 
Treaty of the most liberal character, in order to take it with him ; and you would 
thus avoid the danger of the many slips there are between the cup and the lip. If 
Eussia pushes down to the south of Europe, as she seems to be disposed to do, and 
if, as it is said, she has the best relations with China, she will inevitably become a 
first-rate commercial power. It thus becomes of the utmost importance to us, as 
well as to tlie rest of the commercial world, that her policy in the outset should be 
founded on sound principles, and in no way could that be so well secured, as by in- 
ducing her now, while she is in her very infancy in commerce, to proclaim in a Treaty 
with us such liberal and enlightened views as we are disposed to act upon with all 
the world. I have reflected much on this subject, and am anxious that you should 
avail yourself of the advantages which must result from such an event. It would 
give me pleasure to hear from you whenever you have leisure to write to me. 

" Yours, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, February 2, 1830. 
"Mr Dear Sir: I thank you for your suggestions in regard to Russia. They 
shall not be lost sight of; but Krudner has as yet no instructions. We have had 
severe times here in relation to the old affair, and at one time I thought the official 
catastrophe would have been very striking. Appearances now indicate that things 
will soon wear a more placid aspect. I cannot be more particular, but will have 
much to say to you when I see you, which will, I hope, be soon. 

" Believe me to be very truly yours, &c." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

"London, February 4, 1830. 

" Mt Dear Sir : I received only on the lOtb instant your letter of the 15tli De- 
cember, which you had doomed to a most unnecessarily circuitous route. I feel very 
grateful to the President for his kind intentions toward me ; but I did not expect and 
could not have desired him in the instance you allude to, to go out of the circuit for 
a successor to the late Judge Washington. Ruinous as my stay here, upon my pres- 
ent salary, must be, I could not ask my removal at such a sacrifice, and I am quite 
content to look forward to the event in which you think a proper provision will be 
certain. I certainly think that in that event my State, which has never had a judge, 
would present a reasonable claim independently of the favorable view in which my 
friends are pleased to regard me personally. On that event I trust Van Buren will 
keep his eye. I am sorry I cannot give you some satisfactory account of my pro- 
gress here, which is, however, assailed by too many difficulties to be rapid or flatter- 
ing. I have already informed you of the expectations originally entertained with 
respect to the tariff"; but I knew very well from the beginning that tliey could not 
be realized and might prove injurious. I early placed all that matter truly, fairly, 
and unreservedly on its proper ground, and I no longer feel any serious concern on 
that account as it respects the ministry. Our danger is (and which is made particu- 
larly imminent by Mallory's report) that the general opposition to the ministry may 
dexterously employ this as a means of assault, and so intimidate the ministry, and 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 161 

prevent any arrangement with us. There can be no doubt that the spirit of opposi- 
tion to tbe Duke's administration woukl as readily seize upon any measure in our 
favor as they would upon any thing else. I do not doubt, myself, that the present 
Ministry will continue, but at present their power is scarcely sufficient, at least in 
tlieir own opinion, to permit them to make any serious change in their foreign rela- 
tions. My negotiation is a subject of great and constant excitement, and you would 
be surprised at tlie interest with which every conference I hold with Ministers is 
watched. The difficulty I most apprehend, grows out of the state of the British 
Northern Possessions, and in that there is great plausibility ^ if not force. It is not 
expected to continue them merely the carriers of our produce to the British "West 
India Islands. That was undoubtedly Mr. Canning's object, but they now allege 
that the present state of things has developed greater resources and demonstrated the 
capacity of the Canadas themselves to supply the Islands — that they do so already, with 
slight aid from their European voyages, and in two years more will do so altogether. 
Unfortunately, our commercial tables (which are palpably false, and ought never 
to be made to Congress again) give considerable encouragement to these expectations, 
by showing that our exports are short to all these places, to the amount of our pre- 
vious exports to the British West India Islands. Now, what Ministers fear is, to go 
into Parliament, and, after an arrangement with us, encounter the opposition in the 
face of such a state of things. And strange as it may seem, at the head of the oppo- 
sition on this particular topic would stand Mr. Iluskisson — notwithstanding the other 
parts of his colonial system, which he gave as the consideration of a direct trade 
between the West India Islands and the United States, are in full operation, while 
that trade has been accidentally lost. We are now, however, in full and earnest 
discussion on all these points, and it will be no fault of mine if we fail. The Message 
has produced an immense effect here. It ha$ elevated the country .^ and placed the Presi- 
dent and Secretary of State especially in the very highest ranlc in Europe of American 
statesmen. In its tone towards this country, it has practised a manly generosity, 
which it would be unpardonable folly in Ministers not to sustain ; and, as I have 
taken care to intimate to them, by some practical measure which would be no more 
than equivalent to the independence of our executive. God knows I always antici- 
pated enough from certain collisions ; and my apprehensions have by no means sub- 
sided. They will furnish the Vice-President a pretence for doing what he would 
not otherwise dare attempt. The Marquis Wellesley is not among the Premier's 
advisers (when at Wasliington, you thought he was), even remotely. For the pres- 
ent, take this short letter. I will write again by the next packet. 

'• Meantime, believe me, &c., &c., 

"L. MoLane." 

James A. Hamilton to Pkesidext Andrew Jackson. 

" New York, March 16, 1830. 
"My Deae Sir: We have news from London as late as the 10th February, em- 
bracing the King's Speech and the debates thereon, a part of which, together witli 
the former, I have the pleasure to enclose to you, as also the following extract on 
the subject of your Message from a private letter written by Messrs. Daniel Crom- 
melin & Co., the bankers in Amsterdam who made the late loan to the Ohio Canal, 
addressed to Mr. T. W. Ludlow of this city. These gentlemen deservedly rank 
11 



162 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

first among their countrymen as to wealth and intelligence. ' The President's Mes- 
sage seems generally to have made a good impression on the European public, and 
it certainly is able, correct, and manly, and cannot but create cordial good-will with 
all that are well-disposed towards a country and a government whose first Magis- 
trate comes forward with such sentiments. Tlie Message is indicative also of the 
general prosperity of the country. AVe hope to see the Message during many years 
fraught, on the whole, in the spirit of the present one. We duly observe what you 
mention on the subject of the United States Bank. If that establishment should be 
dissolved, we suppose Government will have to make some arrangement to carry on 
its concerns. The Government evidently wants some such financial agent for mani- 
fold purposes.' These are the opinions of men uninfluenced by political considera- 
tions, and are therefore the more to be valued as evidence of the views of the hon- 
est and intelligent portion of mankind who have the deepest interest in good govern- 
ment, 

" It is a singular thing to see Mr. Peel, iu the House of Commons, quoting the opin- 
ions of an American President in order to sustain himself and his party wiih his 
own countrymen. You will observe that Wellington admits that their deep and gen- 
eral distress in some measure results iroxa foreign competition — a most extraordinary 
admission of the eifect of our Tariff System ; and you will further observe that the 
King invokes his Piyliament not to forget what is due to the inviolability of the 
public credit. Thio latter, and last paragraph of the speecli proves that there is an 
extensive and growing disposition on the part of the people to relieve themselves 
fromJ;he public burthens, either by reducing the interest upon the debt or otherwise 
tampering with the public faitli. I have intended to write to you at large in relation 
to the state of things across the water, which I consider as uncommonly interesting 
to us in very many ways, and indeed so much so that the attention of an American 
statesman cannot be diverted from them for a moment ; but my fear of trespassing 
upon your time has deterred me. The excitement in France from plethora, and a 
spirit of liberty, and in England from starvation, cannot fail to produce important 
iresults. The Crown of Greece is the apple of discord between these Powers and 
-the great Northern Bear. 

■" With the truest attachment, your friend, &c." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

" I oxDOJf, March 22, 1830. 

"My Dear Sie : I received yesterday your letter sent through Mr. Ogden. I can 
'desire no safer mode of correspondence than that. My letters from him do not 
come tlirough the mail, and I comijiit my most confidential communications to that 
(Channel. The difficulties in Washington do not surprise me. I predicted them to 
, you early, and my wonder is that they are not more serious. I always felt that Gen- 
eral Jackson had thrown away a vast portion of moral weight which he might have 
secured, and though I believed his unsullied patriotism, unquestionably good inten- 
tions, and his strung popularity, T^'ould stand the loss, I trembled for the future £is it 
regarded his administration and his party. I am too remote to say how it can be 
cured, or whether there be any other remedy than the natural. course of the disease. 
My great and secure confidence is in the sagacity of Van Buren in unison with the 
President. I believe the most probable combination or coalition of parties will be 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 163 

that of Calhoun, McLean, and Webster. Clay must be liors de comhat. Such a co- 
alition is in many respects natural and easy. A provision for the respective leaders 
will be the only difficulty ; but that will not be insuperable, if indeed it be greater 
than similar difficulties in any possible direction. Col. Hayne will not perceive his 
defeat is as great as accounts would make it. Imagining himself equal at least to 
Webster, he will not refuse to act, under other circumstances, on the same side, and 
there is nothing in the principles of the former that will be likely to keep them 
asunder. If I may venture to hazard an opinion at so great a distance from the 
scene, on a subject in wljich I feel so deep an interest, it would be to ohlige tiie 
President to stand his hand once more; and seasonably, without further delay, to 
devise some means of concert for the future action and preservation of the party. 
Would to God I had remained in the Senate, and suffered some other man to pine 
and starve at this conrt in the midst of pomp and splendor ! 

" I am still ignorant of the fate of my negotiation. They will act badly, and 
without possible excuse, if, after so much delay, they decide against us. I adopted 
the suggestion of Ministers, and committed to paper some general considerations 
connected with the present state of the negotiations. I threw it in the form of a 
note, requiring an answer without longer delay, and I am now waiting their answer. 
I have abandoned all the abstract points of previous negotiations, and endeavored 
to meet practically the real objections thrown in my way. I feel tliat I have not 
been wanting in zeal and fidelity in the negotiation, and the pain I have endured 
under this responsibility will be very apt to secure me, in the end, the approbation 
of my own conscience, at least. 

" In consequence of a letter I received yesterday from Washington, I had intended, 
when I commenced this letter, to write you frankly about our ow^n affairs. My sheet 
is out, however ; and this being my despatch day, I postpone it till the next packet. 

"Meantime, believe me yours, &c. 

"P. S. You will, I hope, excuse the slovenliness of this scrawl." 

Memorandum! March 29, 1830.4—1 left New York early to-day for Wash- 
ington, and arrived there, and at Mr. Van Buren's bouse, where I stopped, on 
the 31st, at about 3 o'clock P. M. I visited the President (Jackson) in the 
eveninsr, who received me with the warmest cordiality. We passed an hour 
alone. During the time he related to me a variety of incidents connected with 
the course of Congress, and among others, speaking of the delay which had oc- 
curred in the Senate in passing upon his nominations, he told me that he had 
been advised to call his Cabinet together, and urge its members to use their in- 
fluence with the members of the Senate to induce them to take up and confirm 
the nominations — to which I replied. He said : " No, never, I have done my 
duty, let the Senate do its duty ; it shall never be said that I attempted by any 
measures to influence the deliberations of Congress; if they do not do their 
duty, the people must pass between us. The various measures recommended 
in ray Message have been neglected. We shall see, my friend, more of this 
hereafter." I replied that it was to be feared the course of Congress had been 
influenced by considerations connected with the next election, and that to secure 
to himself a successful administration during four years be must consent to 



164 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

serve one other term ; in that way alone will the anticipated divisions between 
his friends be prevented. He replied that he had much to say to me on that 
subject on a future occasion — that it was a subject of great difl&culty ; he had 
determined to ascertain who were his friends. 

We then conversed about the rejection of Lee and Decatur's nominations- 
Hs to the former, he said : " I deeply regret it on his account. He is in abso- 
lute want. He has talents and information sufficient for any station, and as to 
his former highly objectionable conduct, I reprobate it as much as any man, but 
still I am willing to believe, and have no doubt, that the man has repented; and 
are we called upon to punish forever ? Is there notliing due to repentance ? 
There is a vindictive spirit in that course, which I cannot believe is justifiable. 
As to Decatur, I have been requested to give him some other place of less im- 
portance, which would not require the approval of the Senate, but that I have 
flatly refused ; if he is unworthy, I cannot well do for him more than I have al- 
ready done." (The person here referred to was John P. Decatur.) 

I then mentioned to him that Van Buren was in the other room with the 
ladies, and proposed that we should join him. He acquiesced, saying, " You 
have come to quarter with me ?" I said, "No, I am with Van Buren." He 
replied, " Then let me see as much of you as I can." We then joined the ladies. 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, May 3, 1830. 

" My Deae Sir : Your letter of the 29th ultimo, marked private, reached me this 
morning ; I liasten to answer it. Mr. Forsyth lias made no communication to me as 
yet; should lie, you shall at .^n early day be apprised thereof and with its contents. 

"I find from your letter that you have not seen Mr. McDuflBe's Report upon the 
U. S. Bank. I herewith send it to ynu ; I presume it to be, a joint effort, and the 
best that cin be made in its support, and it is feeble. This is intended, no doubt, 
as the first shot ; it wil] pass without moving me. 

"I will thank you for your idea.s on this report when leisure will permit. 
Although intended to wound me. it will not injure me. but it will not go un- 
answered when a proper time arrives. Let me hear from you soon, and 

" Believe me your friend, 

" Andrew Jackson." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

" London, May 27, 1830. 

"Mt Deak Sie: I received only Monday last your letter of the 16th ultimo, for 
which I make you my thanks. 

" I need the approbation and confidence — which, in my heart, I feel that I 
deserve — of the President, in relation to my conduct liere, to console me for the 
bad behavior with which 1 fear this Government will be ultimately chargeable. I 
have found my efforts wholly unavailable to force an answer to my proposition. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 165 

They constantly deny all unworthy motive, and I believe Lord Aberdeen is a man 
of truth and honor. But still they have allowed one session of Congress to pass 
over, and in this way have deprived us — unless Congress shall have acted provision- 
ally — of the opportunity of countervailing measures (if they reject our overtures) 
until next winter. I trust Confjress will have acted. I early expressed to Mr. Van 
Buren the necessity of doing so, and sent him my exposition of the question for the 
purpose of apprizing Congress of the real state of the case. I prepared that paper, 
on an official suggestion, to place my reasoning in the way of more ready and certain 
reference; and I framed it as containing an argument by ■which the Ministry might 
sustain anarrangementagaiiist the opposition in Parliament, and especially against Mr. 
Huskisson. They admit it to be able, and, themselves, found it as difficult of an 
answer as the opposition would do. Nevertheless, the tenor of the opposition 
remains, and the Canadian interests maintain their ground. I consider Mr. Huskis- 
son one of our worst enemies, and as probably at the head of a class of politicians 
I'espectable in numbers and talent and iuHueuce, who are certainly jealous of our 
prosperity. 

" Huskisson is unworthy the reputation he has as the advocate of free trade. 
He is the infatuated advocate of British Namgation, and he would to-morrow 
sink ours to the bottom of the ocean, if he could. I believe lie thought the 
scale of duty imposed by the British Act of 1825 would indirectly, but effectually, 
exclude us from the direct trade with the "West Indies ; and finding this expectation 
disappointed in the short time the Act was in force, he urged the order in 
council of 1826, and is now bitterly opposed to any adjustment. Therj never 
intended the Act of 1825 to he leneficial to its. They mean to raise up the 
Canadas as our rivals. They have the double motive of profiting by their i)ro3- 
perity, and, by cherishing their jealousy of us, of precluding the possibility of their 
falling into our hands. It is in vain to deny the jealousy and apprehension of our 
power and prosperity, of many classes (and some of them of talent and power and 
influence) of the English population. When we have inspired the Government 
with respect, and a friendly disposition towards us, we have only put a smooth 
covering over the mouth of the volcano. The elements of eruption are beyond our 
reach, and continue to give out threatenings enough to awe the Ministry from any 
decisive and friendly course ; if, indeed, they do not ere long burst forth. I long ago 
suggested the idea of a Charge d'AflPaires to Mr. Van Buren. Every day persuades 
me of the propriety of that suggestion, and I could, if I had space, advert to many 
considerations not to be disregarded. 1 hope I am incapable from interested motives 
of attaching too much importance to the personal consideration of its enabling the 
President to withdraw me without incurring the charge of an additional outfit. 
But I am fast approaching insolvency here, in the midst of discomfort, and without 
having it in my power to benefit my country, and shall be really unhappy when the 
negotiation shall be closed unfavorably, as there is too much reason to believe it 
will be. This Government will not touch any other point in nur relations. The 
past Administration refused to do so; and thepresent are shamefully afraid of tread- 
ing in a new path. I could be of infinitely more service to Van Buren, the Presi- 
dent, and the country, if I were at home. Events will necessarily force V:in Buren 
to rely on the strength of the administration. Callioun's impatience and resentful 
temper will do this, and therefore it is the more necessary to give the administration 
weight— I mean moral and intellectual weight, the only securities for public confi- 



166 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

dence. "Without these, it will invite opposition from all quarters, and become'absolutely 
injurious. Besides, it is absolutely necessary that the next winter should open with 
a system of measures and jmlicy founded on the jyrinciples of Van Bureii's toast, 
calculated to tranquilize and unite the public mind, and hiisli the voice of faction 
and sectional disaffection. In this way General Jackson may yet acquire a renown 
equal to his best expectations, and, while he renders so patriotic a service to his 
country, will give strength and success to his party. 

"If Calhoun and McLean coalesce, Webster will, nay must, be of the firm. lie 
is not wider asunder from loth of them on grounds ofpuMic policy than they are 
from each other. Besides, McLean must bring the East and West both into alliance 
with some of the Soiith. This will be necessary to success, and they will not object 
to Calhoun if he can add a portion of the South, especially if the East can be cajoled 
with the hope of Protection. Where can Webster make as good terms? But, 
at any rate, they will all be opposed to the Administration, and this is a new motive 
barely to recommend that to the sound public opinion of the country. I tliink the 
Senate have acted unpardonably towards the President, and the party and the 
nation. I have been confounded at their course, and have regretted most deeply 
that I ever quit my seat. I might at least have prevented that evil. It is impossi- 
ble that some evil spirit is not at work in that body, otherwise the reckless course of 
the ojjposition must liave united the majority in spite of all men's dislike ; but I con- 
fess I want the clue to some of the rejections. 

" You would be amused to see how this Government writhes under the proposi- 
tion that our trade, direct or indirect, is necessary to the West Indies ; and that 
therefore to that extent we are entitled to have it direct in common with other 
nations. They are now in great commotion at the abdication of Leopold. I am not 
sure that this has not been induced by the expectation of the King's death, and 
Leopold's influence in that event. It may be a rallying-point with the opposition. 
The King's death, however, is an afiiiir of weeks only ; but no change will better us — 
rely on it, we are destined to no favors. But, adieu, and pardon this hasty letter." 

Martin Van Boken to James A. Hamilton. 

"May 31, 1830. 
"My Dear Sik : McLanc has not yet got liis answer, but I am confident he will 
succeed. If Lynch, on his return, complains of him, let me know, and I will explain 
the cause. I have despatches to-day from Eives and Ehind. Expect good things in 
all quarters, but say nothing. What think you of the President's Veto Message? 
We have had severe times for a few days, but the session closed very auspiciously. 
The President will go to the Hermitage about the middle of the month. I shall be 
detained again by my ministers until July. Randolph is to sail on the 15th July. 

"My last letter from McLane is the 22d April. Lord Aberdeen said that the 
Ministry might be considered* as upon the point of a decision. 

"Very truly, yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Andrew Jackson. (Private). 

" Js^EW York, June 3, 1830. Midnight. 
" My Dear Sir : I have just completed the whole subject, except that which 
will treat of the first point made in the Report ; and upon that I shall be very brief, 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 1G7 

combating merely some of the arguments put forth in the Eeport,* and referring to 
those in opposition to the power which has heretofore been urged, and then I have 
done. I fear I have been already too diffusive and too caustic. The subject grew 
upon me as I advanced, and my feelings of disapprobation of the authors of the 
flimsy and unfair Report became more excited as those characteristics became more 
apparent. You will, having the whole before you, temper and expunge such parts 
as may require either. 

"Mr. Van Buren informs me, by a letter I received to-day, that you would set 
out for the Hermitage in the course of this month. I trust you intend to take New 
York in your way. If you should not so intend, I should like to know when you 
leave Washington, in order that, if I can find time, I may run away to Washington 
to pass a single day and night with you. So many events of deep interest have 
occurred since I left you, that I feel the strongest desire to converse with you in the 
unreserved manner I have heretofore been permitted to do. With my most earnest 
prayers for your continued health and happiness, I remain your sincere friend, &c." 

President Andrew Jackson to Col. James A. Hamilton. (Private.) 

"Washington, June 3, 1830. 

"My Deae Sib: Your letters of the 28th and 30th ultimo, with the remarks 
accompanying them, have been received, but the hurry and bustle incident to the 
adjournment of Congress have prevented me from answering until now. 

" I have had no conversation with Mr. McDuiEe on the subject of Banks ; nor 
never did I conteinplate such as in his imagination he has assumed, and recom- 
mended in his Report. ; I have often spoken of a National Bank chartered upon the 
principles of the checks and balances of our Federal Government, with a branch in 
each State, the capital apportioned agreeably to representation, and to be attached 
to and be made subject to the supervision of the Secretary of tlie Treasury, and an 
expose of its condition be made annually, in his report to Congress, as part of the 
revenue; which might be a bank of deposit only, which I have always thought more 
consistent with our Government than that it should become a brokers' or banking 
establishment for discount and deposit. But if the Federal Government should 
have anything to do in banking establishments, beyond that of a safe deposit for our 
revenue ; which might give aid to our fiscal concerns in a state of war, then it should 
belong to the nation exclusively ; all its emoluments to accrue to the nation, to the 
whole people, and not to a few moneyed capitalists to the exclusion of the many ; 
and I have no doubt but it could be so guarded in the charter, that it would be less 
dangerous to the liberties of our country than the present hydra of corruption, so 
dangerous to our liberties by its corrupting influences everywhere, and not the least 
in- the Congress of the Union. I showed you, when here, my ideas on a bank 
project, both of deposit (which I think the only national bank that the Government 
ought to be connected with) and one of discount and deposit, which, from the suc- 
cess of the State Bank of South Carolina, I have no doubt could be wielded profit- 
ably to our Government, and with less demoralizing effects upon our citizens than 
the bank that now exists. But a national^ entirely national bank of deposit is all 
we ought to have: but I repeat, a national bank of discount and deposit maybe 



* Report made by Mr. McDuffie, which I was called upon to review. 



108 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

estabjished upon our revenue and national faith pledged, and carried on by salaried 
officers, as our revenue is now collected, with less injury to the morals of our citi- 
zens and to the destruction of our liberty, than the present hydra of corruption, and 
all the emoluments accrue to the nation as part of the revenue. \ And I loish your 
ideas of a plan of each when leisure presents itself. 

" I have examined your remarks enclosed. I return tliem, that Mr. Calhoun's 
name maybe striclcen out. From a correspondence lately between him and myself, 
ill which I was obliged to use tlie language of Cajsar, ' Et tii, Brute ? ' it might be 
thought to arise from personal feeling, and arouse the sympathy of the people in his 
favor. You know an experienced general always keeps a strong reserve, and here- 
after it may become necessary to pass in review the rise and progress of this hydra 
of corruption, when it will be proper to expose its founders and supporters by name. 
Then, and then only, can his name be brought with advantage and propriety before 
the nation. I return it for this correction, which, when made, and two following 
numbers forwarded with it, I will have them published in the Telegraph. This is 
the paper, for more reasons than one. I have attempted five times to write you this 
scrawl, and have been a dozen of times interrupted since I commenced it. You 
must receive it as it is. I have no time to correct it. 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to a Fkiend, 

" WAsniNGTosr, June 15, 1830. 
" I arrived here yesterdiy at 10 o'clock, A. M. — went immediately to see the 
President, who was looking fur me, as I learned from Van Buren, with some anxiety. 
We immediately retired to his private room, first read over his correspondence with 
Cilhoun (the latter admits that he was in favor of a hostile course as it respects the 
General in the Seminole business), and, next, to talk over Mrs. Eaton, &c. This 
matter is in greater extreme now than heretofore. Eaton or Donelson will, I fear, 
retire. Lastly, we conferred upon other general matters — the Messages (general 
and particular), the Light House bill, &c., &c. After spending some time thereon, 
I went to ride with Van Buren; returned to dine with the President, who insisted 
upon my remaining with him during the night, the greater part of which we passed 
in conversation about Ingham, Eaton, Branch, McLane — changes — the course to be pur- 
sued during the next session of Congress — its complexion — Mr. Calhoun — Van Buren, 
&:c., &c. We retired very late. We are to meet again this evening, to confer more 
at large." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" New York, June 7, 1830. 

" Mt Dear Sir : Your kind letter of tlie 3d instant was received to-day, 
together with Nnmber 1, which I have altered in the manner you suggested, and in 
such other respects as wei'e suggested to my mind on its perusal ; and I have the 
honor to enclose it herewith. The last part was forwarded on Sunday. You can- 
not do any act that will be more gratifying to me than to return any of the otlier 
portions as you have done this, with your intimations for the purpose of revision 
and amendment, for you will thus evince your confidence in my desire to serve you. 
I hope at my earliest leisure to be enabled to put in the form of heads for a Bill, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 1G9 

such a scheme of a Bank of Discount and Deposit as you have suggested. At the 
same time I must differ from you in the opinion you have expressed that it ought to 
be exclusively in the hands of the Government and its paid officers. A bank of deposit 
may be safely so arranged, but it will want the ability in certain exigencies to aid the 
fiscal operations of the Government which a bank of discount and deposit would 
possess, while the latter could hardly be safely left to the direction of persons who 
were not interested in the fiiithfnl and cautious administration of its affairs. I have 
thought of a plan in which the credit and revenues of the Government would be 
the foundation, and with which individual interest could be united in such a way as 
to preserve a preponderance to the Government, and in which the direction would 
be so managed aa that the Government would appoint the whole — one half of its 
own mere volition, uninfluenced by the interference of the individuals interested, 
and the other half to be appointed from a list of nominees chosen by the individuals 
interested ; which should be submitted to the President for his selection ; the 
President of the Institution to be appointed by Government, the Cashier by the 
Pi-esident and Directors. The difiiculties to be avoided on the one hand and the 
other are these : a bank, the capital of which should be furnished by the Government 
under the direction of paid officers, would be exposed, 1st, to the danger of having 
its funds loaned to irresponsible persons who might be of the family or friends of 
the directors, and thus wasted and destroyed ; and next, that these directors, influ- 
enced by the power which created them, might use this money with reference to 
political influence, and thus endanger the purity of our institutions, as well as waste 
the capital. The only way I now see in which these evils can be avoided, is to secure 
the untiring watchfulness of individual interest, always better managers of pecuniary 
concerns simply, than Governments are ; and so are private individuals better than 
corporations ; to permit them to purchase a part of the capital thus furnished, for 
Avhich tlie Government will be paid at par (and thus raise the means to discharge 
its debt, if that should not have already been done), and for which and no more 
it will ultimately be responsible. But it is quite clear that individuals will not so 
invest their funds unless they can participate in the management of the bank ; for 
they will naturally say, a bank exclusively under the direction of persons appointed 
by Government may go on very well in time of peace, but in war, when the Govern- 
ment wants means, these directors will lend the whole capital and credit and all to it. 
I would, therefore, to secure the confidence of the Government and individuals, form 
a direction in the manner I have stated, and I would superadd that no individual 
loan should be made without a concurrence of two out of three of the public direc- 
tors ; or to the Government, without the sanction of two out of three of the private 
directors. I throw out these suggestions for your consideration just as they occur 
to me. With all this I would connect so much of that part of the plan of a bank of 
deposit, which 1 sent to you, as would secure the faithful disbursement and safe- 
keeping of (he public revenues. I had intended to have thrown out some hints of a 
plan of a bank, but my time is so little my own, as to compel me to defer them to 
a future day. With the truest attachment, your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Louis McLane. (Private — strictly confidential.) 

" New York, June 27, 1830. 
^ " My Deau Sm; I passed two days with the President immediately preceding 



170 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the day of his departure for the Ilermitage, by his invitation. The veto — the Eaton 
business, which is at the highest point of excitement— a difterence with Calhoun — 
were subjects of frequent conversation between us, and will be attended with the 
most important efiects. As I am not at liberty, if I had time or inclination, to go 
over the whole ground, I will merely communicate as much of what is determined 
upon as is particularly interesting to you. You may have learned, from my former 
letters, or from Van Buren, that the President had been urged by a large number of 
the Pennsylvania Delegation to i-eraove Ingham, and that he had been advised by 
Van Buren, and other friends, not to do so. At my last visit I ascertained that the 
President, for various causes, had lost confidence in Ingham, and that sooner or 
later a rupture would take place. 1 therefore made up my mind to advise a change. 
I told Van Buren and Lewis that I intended to do so, and my reasons for the deter- 
mination, in which the latter immediately, and the former hesitatingly, acquiesced. 
At our next interview I told the President plainly that it was impossible for him to 
get along with Ingham ; that a change ought to be made ; and that, in my opinion, the 
only question was as to the time and manner of effecting it. I then went into an 
examination of their relations — the reasons why Ingham could not cordially sup- 
port the President, and the grounds there were to fear a want of unanimity and cor- 
diality in the Cabinet. He listened with pleasing attention ; told me he fully concur- 
red with me, and said, with his usual promptitude, that as soon as your negotiation 
was successfully terminated, you would return, when lie would offer your place to 
Ingham. And this, my good friend, was at length fidly and entirely settled. You 
are not to understand that T was so to inform you, nor would I have done so, but 
that, in conversation with Van Buren after he had heard the same determination 
from the President, he told me Tie intended to write to you on the subject. You 
must, therefore, consider this information as strictly confidential. I presuine, should 
the King be alive, that you will have closed the matter by this time. From your 
last letter, received by Van Buren, I infer that the Duke of "Wellington's hesitation 
has two objects ; one, to gain time, the other, to obtain that assurance of an acquies- 
cence on our part, wliich the late act of Congress in regard to the colonial trade will 
give him. After the Treasury, the Attorney-General must be changed. I regret to 
say that I fear either Donelson or Eaton must remain in Tennessee. Most probably, 
the latter will prevail, although the former would be the most serious loss. lie is a 
high-minded man, of much knowledge and talents, with discretion above all praise ; 
but has been strangely involved by his wife and Calhoun in the Eaton business. 
Send me the testimony, etc., taken by a Committee of the Commons on the subject 
of the Scottish Banks in 1826 ; a copy of the act establishing the Bank of Eng- 
land ; Drummard's Treatise on Currency, and any other good works on Banking. 
I pray you not to delay this commission, and to inform me in what manner I am to 
repay any expense it may expose you to. 

" Yours, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, July 5, 1830. 
" Deae Sir : The enclosed is, in substance, the same with a letter of the same date 
to me. I have sent him new instructions upon the subject of time to be allowed to the 
British Government for an answer, so that it be in season for the present session. He 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. lYl 

is quite impatient, and sees the matter in a different lijilit on different days. I Lope it 
will go well in the end. I should like to talk to you about private affairs here, to 
gratify curiosity, but cannot write tliem. The mail is too insecure, and it is of no 
real importance. I would like, moreover, to check your fondness for gossip instead 
of feeding it. Things are no better than when you were here. The old Chief's zeal 
for his friend increases with the pressure, and disposition not to meddle in the mat- 
ter, on the part of those not already committed, is growing every day. You will 
see Eaton's card in to-day's Telegraph. You saw the violent attack in that paper 
upon Baldwin. The President sends him (Baldwin) in as Judge of the Supreme 
Court to-day. Say nothing of this as coming from me. It is a step which wil. 
create no inconsiderable sensation. 

" Yours truly, &c." 

President Andrew Jackson to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

"Heemitage, July 12, 1830. 

" Mt Dear Col. : T have just received yours of the 27th of June last, accompa- 
nying Mr. Malibran's * petition, which I have herewith enclosed and referred, to yoa 
for your report of the truth of the facts stated in his petition. 

" I reached this place on the 6th inst. ; found my farm in good order, and my 
family in good health, my crop suffering for the want of rain. I have been con- 
/stantly in a crowd since I left the city, although I have declined all public dinners, / 
^ and, really, I wish I could return to it in an air-balloon, to avoid the great fatigue I ^" 
have encountered on my way hither. I have every reason to believe that my veto 
will be sustained by a large majority of the people of the United States. Be this as 
it may, one thing I do know, that the faithful discharge of my constitutional duties 
pointed to the course I adopted, and I pursued it without inquiring who would or 
might condemn or approve the measure. I am always happy to hear of Mnjor Ea- 
ton's increasing popularity and prosperity. I have long known him, and a more vir- 
tuous, honest man does not exist. He is worthy of confidence, and will never vio- 
late it. I have agreed to meet my fellow-citizens on to-morrow in Nashville, to give 
them a shake by the hand and friendly greeting. 

" ilajor Eaton and his lady have not reached me. "What delays him, I have not 
heard. Until he arrives I cannot commence my arrangements with the Indians — a 
subject I have much at heart ; and as soon as it is acted upon, I will hasten back to 
the city to attend to my duty there. 

" With my respects to your lady and family, believe me 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Andrew Jackson. 

"New York, July 23, 1830. 
"My Dear Sir: I congratulate you upon your arrival at your peaceful abode, 
whore I hope you will enjoy that tranquillity which is denied to you elsewhere. I 
intend to send to you, with this letter, a debate which occurred in the House of 



* The liusband of the famous vocalist. He was on the gaol limits. She had returned to Eu- 
rope, lie was discliarged, immediately went to France, where he found she was married to 
another m;in. Her maiden name was Garcia. 



172 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Commons of a character deeply interesting to us. The impudent assumption of a 
right asserted on the floor of that House to extend their right to interfere to preserve 
a halance of power in this quarter of the globe, is unequalled. That nation has ex- 
tended its hands to every quarter of the world for the purpose of creating a colonial 
dependence upon her power. She now contains more than eighty millions of souls, 
distributed throughout every continent and sea, she herself not amounting to more 
than twelve millions ; and yet presumes to create alarm at a disposition in our 
Government to extend its control over a contiguous territory which is almost with- 
out population. And to what end ? in order that this territory may be cultivated 
by a hardy race of freemen, who will enjoy all the blessings of a free and liberal 
government; in the direction of which they will participate in common with every 
other member of the nation. From all I learn, I very much fear that our negotia- 
tion will not be successful, unless the late Act of Congress should, by depriving the 
Duke of all pretence for refusal, obtain that from their sense of shame which their 
sense of justice could not induce, 

"Yours truly, &c." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton, 

"Lo^•DO^-, August 19, 1830, 

"My Deae Sir: My despatches by this packet will announce the gratifying suc- 
cess of my negotiation. This Government finally assents to restore us the direct 
trade with the colonies upon the terms of my proposition. And an alteration of the 
present schedule, though intimated as probably to be made hereafter, is no part of 
the arrangement, and cannot take place for some time. When it does happen, it 
will, on the whole, do us no material injury. The President's Proclamation will be 
the first step. The revocation of the British order in Council of 1827, the abolition 
of the discriminating duties on American vessels in the colonial ports, and the con- 
cession to us of the advantages of the Act of Parliament of 5th July, 1825, will 
follow. This success needs no comment from me. It will speak for itself; and re- 
membering all I have sufl:ered, all I have risked, and looking to the consequences to 
my friends and country in future, I feel less of exultation than gratitude for the 
result. But Cambreling's law — I call it his, for he drafted it — may mar the lustre 
of this victory. You must prevent it. It had liked to have ruined every thing. 
We were saved by the honorable frankness with which our Government had uni- 
formly borne themselves towards this. They reject the unfavorable construction of 
which they fear the law is susceptible, and adopt that which they hope and believe 
it was intended to receive, I think their fears are scarcely plausible, though but in 
one clause; and that is the one in the 1st Section, in the following words: 'that 
the vessels of the United States may import into the said Colonial Possessions from 
the United States any article or articles which could he imported in a British Vessel 
into the said PossessioTis from the United States.^ Now, the Act of Parliament of 
5th July, 1825, opening this trade, expressly confines the articles to be imported in 
vessels of the United States to the produce of the United States. Their Navigation 
Act of the same date makes the same express limitation. And even our Commercial 
Convention with Great Britain limits the trade in vessels of the United States to the 
European ports to produce of the United States. My instructions agree to comply 
with the conditions of the Act of 1825, and to accept the advantages of t?iat Act. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 173 

My proposition to tLis Government is in the very words of my instructions; but if 
Mr. Cambreling's bill means to insist upon the right of American Vessels to import 
into the Colonies other than Ameriean produce, it is not a compliance with the Act 
of 1825. It asks what that Act never offered — what Great Britain does not give in 
her trade with any of her ports to any nation in the world, and never will to us or 
any one else. The truth is, the law was drafted in a hurry, without a sufficient 
understanding of all the complicities of the trade. But take care that the technical- 
ities of the Attorney-General do no harm. Take the renl good sense of the subject ; 
be satisfied that the main scope of the law intends us to execute an arrangement 
consistent with the instructions; and then construe this clause in subservience to 
the great end and design of the Act. 

" I have no time for any more. My public despatches and letter to Van Buren 
will contain my arguments on this law. I think you or Cambreling had better go 
oft' to Washington, or perhaps both — though my public despatches, I think, will do 
every thing. You must not let the stir about the French Revolution deprive the 
Administration of the advantages of this arrangement. 

"Yours, &c." 

Maktin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" "Washington, September 10, 1830. 
"MtDeaeSie: Give yourself no uneasiness about the conduct of * * * *. it 
does not belong to my notions of justice to make one man answerable for the follies 
of another. I know you well, and that is enough. Between us there never can be 
any difficulty, except through gross misunderstanding; for I know that you cannot 
intentionally do wrong, and I am conscious that I do not wish to do so. I reproached 
myself for having shown you the letter, lest it might mortify you. Once for all, 
never let such an apprehension disturb you. * * * Washington looks well, and the 
weather is very pleasant. If you see Mr. Rhind, which you will do soon, if he is not 
already with you, caution him against giving publicity to the dispute with his col- 
leagues. From your letter I supposed, or feared, he might go directly to Major 
Noah, and I therefore cautioned the latter upon the suliject. 

"Very truly, yours, &:c." 

The Collector, Swartwout, was so entirely ignorant of the laws which regu- 
lated his duty, and of the course of the business of his oflBce, that he required 
the District Attorney's services in resolving questions and difficulties from day 
to day — so much so, that I was requested to come every morning to the Custom 
House to aid him in the administration of his duties. 

One morning, when sitting near bis table within the railing which excluded 
the people who came to see him on business, awaiting Swartwout's arrival, the 
Cashier, Mr. Henry Ogden, placed on the table a check on the bank for five 
thousand (5000) dollars, drawn payable to the order of Samuel Swartwout, 
Collector. When the Collector came in, taking his accustomed seat at his table, 
he read the check, endorsed it, and looking around the circle of persons standing 
outside the rail, went over to a gentleman I knew as well as a brother, and 



174 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

delivered that check to him without taking therefor any receipt or voucher of 
any kind, or any paper which indicated that the check was paid in connection 
with the business of his office. 

I knew the gentleman was a speculator with very slender means, and that 
he had no commercial business whatever (indeed, Swartwout, after his failure, 
told me he had speculated in real estate with that gentleman). Nothing was 
said at the time on the subject. I was convinced that this was an appropria- 
tion of the public money to his private use. 

After going through with the business on which I came, returning to my 
office, I turned this event anxiously in my mind — was satisfied that it was a great 
wrong — and asked myself what my duty as a public officer and a personal friend 
of the President required me to do. I concluded that as a public officer I was 
bound to take care of the public interests, and that it was my duty to commu- 
nicate what I had seen and my opinions to President Jackson. I did so imme- 
diately, and at the same time suggested that I could devise a scheme which 
would check such a course, or expose its detection at the Treasury Department. 
The President acknowledged the receipt of my letter, approved of what I had 
done, and informed me that he had sent my letter to the Secretary of the 
Treasury. 

Shortly afterwards I received a letter from the Secretary, asking me to give 
him the scheme which I believed would prevent the misappropriation of the 
public money. I did so, and nothing further was done. 

If the President or Secretary had instituted an inquiry into the facts, as I 
believed would have been done, Swartwout would have been removed or admon- 
ished, and his defalcation, which amounted to over a million, would have been 
arrested. 

In 1830, I received a letter from my friend, the Hon. Edward Livingston, 
dated Montgomery Place, 22d September, in which he said : 

"I submit to you, that it might promote the public interests if you would pre- 
pare a Memorial on the German Trade^ and submit the same to the President. No 
one could do it so Avell, and I feel confident, on examining the subject, you will tliink 
it sufRciently important to occupy your attention. The present seems a propitious 
time for pushing our interests in that quarter. 

" I am, my dear sir, with high regard, your friend and humble servant." 



I entered upon this great work with alacrity, because I believed, after exa- 
mining the subject, I could promote the public interest, and probably be useful 
to the President. I found, the more I examined and thought upon it, that it 
involved grave considerations connected with our diplomatic policy, as well as 
our commercial interests. It was a work of great labor, particularly in tracing 
out the statistics of the German nations. I finished the Memoir in a little over 
a month, and sent it to the President, with the following letter: 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 175 

"New York, November 9, 1830. 
" To AxDREW Jackson, President. 

" My Dear Sir : I have the pleasure to enclose to you herewith a Memoir on 
the subject of our diplomatic intercourse and commerce with certain parts of Europe ; 
embracing also some reflections upon the present condition of the same portion of 
the world. This work was begun and finished during those engagements in the 
Courts of the United States which so much occupied my time during the last month, 
and is therefore less perfect than I trust it would have been under other circum- 
stances. Permit me to ask you to consider it as intended for your indulgent eye 
alone. 

" All extended views as to what will be the course of events in Europe, might 
be referred rather to a spirit of prophecy, than to result from a just course of deduc- 
tion from the history of any previous period of the world ; there is none analogous 
to it. I therefore do not pretend to speak with confidence in any respect, except 
that it is a dictate of wisdom on our part to be prepared for the worst — a general 
war. Heretofore, in such a state of things, we proclaimed a strict neutrality, and 
endeavored honestly to maintain it ; but being unable to place the country in a 
situation to enforce our neutral rights, we were compelled to submit to tlie aggres- 
sions of all the belligerents — ^from England and France even to those of Denmark 
and Naples — and ultimately, cur resources being considerably diminished, we were 
by these very aggressions drawn into war. Let such recent experience teach us, as 
soon as it is ascertained that a general war must ensue, to declare to the belligerents 
what our course will be, and to prove to them, by tlie energy of our preparatious, 
that we mean to protect our rights as neutrals — if necessary, by force. 

" It is not at all improbable that England may, for a length of time, keep out of 
the contest, and thus by her existing situation she may be called to cooperate with 
us in sustaining the same rights. It would be well, if this should be so, to endeavor, 
while she is so circumstanced, to have some understanding with her as to what the 
rights of neutrals are; although it is not probable she will suffer herself to be com- 
mitted on the snlgf^ct, inasmuch as she has heretofore treated neutral rights as 
depending wholly upon belligerent will and power. 

" If hostilities should be rendered more certain before the meeting of Congress, 
might you not hint at the probable necessity for such preparation, as affording an 
additional reason for your refusal to concur in expenditures foP internal improve- 
ments? 

" Pardon me for imposing upon you the necessity for reading this long letter and 
accompanying Memoir, and believe me to remain, with the truest attachment, 

" Your friend and servant, James A. Hamilton." 

THE MEMOIR. 

" A rigid system of economy, called for by its necessities, induced the Government 
of the United States at its outset, and also at the termination of the late war. to 
circumscribe, as much as possible, its expenditures, and particularly those required 
by foreign intercourse. 

" A different state of things, however, now exists. Almost entirely relieved from 
the incumbrance of debt, our revenues are so abundant that the Government wants 
all excuse for hesitating, was the policy ever questionable, to take every chance of 



176 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

advantage to our country by extending our representntion to foreign Courts to the 
extreraest point of prudence. Indeed, recent events in Europe no longer allow us 
to make this a question of expense or i)robable advantage. We have no right to 
bold back in the great struggle for the political regeneration of the world. Having 
given tlie first example of a government founded on clear and correct views of the 
rights of man, the first impulse to the power of the people in obedience to tliat sub- 
lime maxim announced by Hamilton, 'The fabric of American empire ought to rest 
on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The stream of national poicer ought 
to flow from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.' We cannot, 
imder an enlightened and just sense of our duty or our safety, hesitate in doing all 
that may be in our power to extend, enforce, and perpetuate those principles which 
are not inconsistent with the three great maxims of our government : First — Not to 
interfere with the internal alFairs of other nations. Second — To avoid entangling 
alliances with all. And last — To preserve a strict neutrality. 

"By extending our representation to foreign states, we take the best means, 1st, 
of securing to ourselves new and useful commercial enterprises, and 2d, the exten- 
sion to an unlimited extent of those political truths which are the foundation of our 
system, and the only true basis of all governments. 

" In discussing this subject, I intend to point out, first, the vast population and 
extent of country ; their character and resources, to which we are at present un- 
known, and the reasons which render it probable our increased commercial inter- 
course would be the consequence of the policy suggested ; and next, the grounds for 
the opinion that an extended diplomatic and commercial intercourse would necessa- 
rily draw after it a more sure and general knowledge of the principles of our govern- 
ment, and particularly, that it is our duty to ourselves to extend those principles by 
all fair means, so long as any of the Powers which formed the Holy Alliance enter- 
tain the designs expressed by the two following engngements of the Congress of Vi- 
enna of 1822 : 

" ' Article 1. — The high contracting parties, well convinced that the system of 
representative government is as incompatible with the monarchical principles as 
the maxim of "the sovereignty of the people " is opposed to the principle of Divine 
right, engage in the most solemn manner to employ all their means and unite all their 
eftbrts to put an end to this system of government wherever it is known to exist in 
the states of Europe, and to prevent it from being introduced into those states where 
it is not known. 

" ' Article 2. — It cannot be disputed that the freedom of the press is the most 
efficacious means employed by the pretended defenders of the rights of nations to 
injure those of princes ; the high contracting parties reciprocally promise to adopt 
every possible measure for its suppression, not only in their own states, but in all 
others in Europe.' 

"The recent events in Europe give increased interest to this branch of the dis- 
cussion, as will appear hereafter. 

" Our diplomatic department, as to Europe, is now nearly on the same scale on 
which it was first established; if one or two missions have been added, others have 
been withdrawn ; yet the population, wealth, extent of empire, power and political 
importance of the nation have nearly quadrupled in that period. Although we may 
b3 insensible of the change, and of the additional duties it involves, we may be 
assured that other nations are not. Among these some are rivals (I am now speak- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 177 

ing only of commercial importance), others have no interest but such as may be pro- 
moted by a corabinatioa with ours. The first of these must be watched, the last 
conciiiated and united by a consolidation of mutual commercial intercourse. The 
establishment of a vigilant diplomatic agency is necessary in both instances: with 
our rivals, to discover and prevent intrigues to our prejudice; with the others, to 
form treaties of commerce, to watch over their operations, to suggest to our own 
Government, and negotiate with those to whom the agents are sent, all such 
changes as the mutual interest of the parties may require. I say mutual interests, 
because that is the only sure and permanent basis on which such treaties ought to be 
placed. No other can endure for any length of time, and in its breach evils are 
produced infinitely overbalancing any profit that may have arisen from any stipula- 
tion intended to secure to either party exclusive advantages. 

" We may draw lessons of practical advantage from the course of other nations, 
without the necessity of following their example to a pernicious extent. 

" Great Britain, our most formidable and perhaps only rival in commerce, not- 
withstanding the propensity its Government has always had for war, is now forced 
by the pressure of her debt, and the discontents of an important member of her terri- 
tory, to pursue a pacific policy, and to exert all her energies to the extension of her 
commercial and shipping interests. Her agents are everywhere. No sooner does a 
commotion arise in any part of the world that can pi-oduce any political or other 
change, than she is apprised of its beginning, and her diplomacy watches its progress, 
ready to seize any opportunity it may offer for extending her exchanges and employ- 
ing her shipping. The change of circumstances in any nation of the world which 
aftbrds a new market for her manufiictures, or a cheap supply of material for their 
fabrication, is immediately communicated by intelligent ministers, and measures are 
as immediately taken to secure the advantage, while her constant endeavor in all 
cases is to exclude us, who, with reason, she considers as her concurrent and most to 
be feared rival. In reply, it is urged that the Government can only be required to 
protect our commerce, and to find new channels for it, and that tlie rest may be 
safely entrusted to the vigilance and energy of individual enterprise. The answer to 
this excuse for a feeble and parsimonious spiiit is, that as long as our intelligent, lib- 
eral, and industrious rival exercises her influence in foreign countries to repress the 
energies of our people, and to exclude them from a participation in advantages which 
their enterprise would seek, commerce is not left to seek the various and abundant 
sources into which our citizens would direct it, but that a wise and paternal Govern- 
ment, particularly one which draws all its revenues from impost, is bound liberally 
to expend its means in encouraging and supporting its citizens in so unequal a con- 
test. Tlie situation of the whole world affords ample scope for the exercise of a dis- 
position on our part to foster and extend our commerce by the means which I am urg- 
ing, and to our rival to check and embarrass it. Spain, with a weak monarch, inat- 
tentive to the interests of his subjects, but graspingly ready to promote his own, 
aff'ords an opportunity for securing monopolies in trade that the sagacity of the British 
will not neglect ; while we, intent only upon our claims for indemnities tor the past, 
exhaust the eff^orts of our own, and excite the hostility of the diplomatists of this power 
in endeavors to correct the past instead of taking care of the future. The course of 
our Government towards Spain, as well in regard to the Floridas as South America, 
has been such as necessarily to excite a spirit of distrust and liostility towards the 
United States, which require a soothing and conciliatory policy. Its people aro 
12 



178 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

without capital or enterprise, and should they by a revolutionary struggle mitigate 
their present situation we ought to be ready to take advantage of the sympathies 
which that change would create. The commerce of Cuba is vastly important to us. 
We already enjoy more than one half of the carrying trade of that Island. Our 
intercourse has the advantage too of being almost coastwise. Our rival has looked 
at this state of things witli keen regret. Spain must feel or ought to be convinced 
that we have no other wish than that this province and that of Porto Rico should 
remain dependent, and that to our active interference it was, and must hereafter be, 
owing, that she still retains them. I have barely hinted at a subject deserving great 
consideration, and which requires an indulgent, intelligent, and industrious course of 
policy. 

" A great commercial change is about to take place between Portugal and Eng- 
land. The vassalage of the former to the latter is interrupted, perhaps destroyed. 
The Methuen Treaty concluded in 1Y03 between these Powers, by which the wines 
of the former were stipulated to be admitted at one third less duty than those of 
France, and the woolens of England were never to be prohibited, has by the con- 
struction of the Treaty of 1810, which expired in 1825, been determined to be sub- 
ject to revision by either party. The manufactory of the Oporto Company greatly 
diminished the advantages which Great Britain expected to derive from the Methuen 
Treaty, and in the new arrangements the unsettled state of the succession will afford 
advantages which, perhaps, may in some sort be counteracted by our early recogni- 
tion of Don Miguel's title to the Crown, should it be established. Our flour and fish 
are certainly, and our lumber is almost, excluded from Portugal and her dependencies. 
Much might be done for our mutual advantage by an industrious, intelligent, and 
skillful representative of tlie fourth class at this court. Circumstances of a pecu- 
liar character connected with the course of the Diplomatic Corps on the change of 
government in that country, would seem to render the exertions of our present rep- 
reseutative, of whatever order his qualifications may be, most probably inefl:ectual. 
" The commercial changes in France during a few years past, as those very re- 
cently of a political character, present to the mind of an intelligent observer the 
most interesting considerations. The last topic, which is strictly political, will be 
Tcserved for its proper place — the second division of our subject. The former, not 
implying any change or extension of our policy, will be merely glanced at. 

" The Government of France before the Revolution of 1Y90, like all other despotic 
•governments, was necessarily averse to an extended commerce ; but within the last 
.fifteen years we have seen even this country yielding some of its antiquated prejudi- 
• ces, and allowing this employment to be deemed, if not an honorable distinction, at 
least not a degrading one, in her intercourse with us approaching equality and libe- 
ral views, which will now be more extended, inasmuch as the revolution which has 
:30 recently occurred will necessarily throw into the councils of France more pro- 
found wisdom and a closer attention to the interests of the community generally. 'We 
may therefore hope her monopolies may be destroyed ; but to realize the hope, 
much, it must be conceded, may be accomplished by the earnest and intelligent ef- 
forts of an excellent representative at that court. That Great Britain, should she 
then not be at war, will, with her accustomed acuteness and vigilance, endeavor to 
turn these changes to her advantage, is made apparent, when we recollect that a 
commercial treaty between the two countries was recently spoken of in Parliament 
■as a probable, or, at least, a desirable event. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 179 

" With Denmark and Sweden we have treaties. Between ns, Russia, and the 
Netherlands, there are reciprocal enactments which will probably secure to us a re- 
ciprocity of coinmercial advantages, and with them, as well as with the other power?, 
our intercourse is kept up by able diplomatic agents; but there are in the European 
communities many important Powers, with some of whom we have no treaties, 
and with none of thein have we any diplomatic intercourse. I speak of Tur- 
key, Greece, the States of Germany, and Italy. With Turkey, Prussia, Austria, 
and the Hesse Towns, we have treaties, but have sent tbem no Ministers. With the 
other states w^e have no treaties. 

" A slight examination of our condition with that of Turkey and of the geographi- 
cal situation of the other states I have mentioned, their popidations, their products, 
and their consumptions, will enable us to determine whether, in a commercial point 
of view, their importance has not been overlooked, and whether a diplomatic inter- 
course with them is not as necessary as with most of the other Powers with whom 
it has been usefully maintained. Tiie Turkish Empire in Europe has a population 
of about five millions, in Asia of about ten millions, making together fifteen mil- 
lions of people ; the State of Greece about two millions. 

" The Austrian Empire covers more than 190,000 square miles, and has a popula- 
tion of thirty millions; the Prussian Monarchy lias 80,000 square miles, and a pop- 
ulation of twelve millions, 

"The German Confederation, consisting of thirty-six different Kingdoms, Princi- 
palities and States, contains thirteen millions, and the Swiss Confederacy about two 
millions. Thus the last four states comprise fifty-nine millions of the most indus- 
trious people on earth, inhabiting the richest part of Europe, situated in its very 
centre, extending from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, abounding with articles 
both of product and manufacture of which we are consumers, and affording a mar- 
ket for many of our most saleable productions and of others of which we may be- 
come the carriers, and yet to whom we send no diplomatic agent whatever. 

"The Emperor of Austria, it is true, is no longer the head of the Germanic Em- 
pire, but his influence is perhaps greater than when he enjoyed that title. The neg- 
lect (if the United States to send a Minister to his court, which once claimed prece- 
dence over all other potentates and had those claims allowed, while many of the 
third-rate Powers receive that mark of attention, possibly may have had an unfavor- 
able effect ; but this impression, it is supposed, may be removed. 

• " Each of the thirty-six Powers composing the Germanic Confederation from 
the Kingdom of Bavaria, which contains nearly four millions of inhabitants, to the 
Lordship of Knifhausen, which has not quite three thousand, has the independent 
power of making treaties of commerce. The consequence is so much confusion and 
vexation in the importation and transit of foreign commodities, that some of the 
Powers have had recourse to sub-confederations for the regulation of their future 
intercourse, and establishing a uniformity of duties with other Powers. 

" In 1828, Bavaria and Wurtemberg made a commercial treaty of this nature. 
Saxony, Hesse-Cassel, Hanover, and Brunswick, another. Bavaria, Ilesse-Darm- 
stadt, and Baden entered into a treaty principally for regulating the duties on commo- 
dities received by the Pihine, and latterly, Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse, Alden- 
burgh, and Brunswick, by a treaty the 18th May last, have established a i)erfect 
freedom of trade between their several states, and this treaty, it is supposed, will 



ISO REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

be acceded to by the other members of the Germanic Coutederation. Tliese four 
sub-confederacies comprehend eleven out of the thirteen millions people contained 
in the whole Confederation, so that commercial arrangements with these would 
supercede the necessity of separate negotiations with all the thirty-six independent 
powers; and we ought thus to prepare the way for the introduction, upon the best 
terms, of our products, and the foreign commodities which might be carried in our 
ships into the interior of Germany, from whence they are at present excluded by 
the high duties and vexatious fiscal operations of the numerous states through which 
they have to pass. 

" It is to be remarked that the articles of import from Germany and Austria are 
such as do not at all interfere with our domestic manufactures. They are principal- 
ly wines, fine wood, laces, spelter (an article much used in our China trade), em- 
broidered muslins, linens, toys, musical instruments, silk, &c,, and if I may be 
allowed the expression, a hardy, industrious, sober, and virtuous people, who make 
good citizens ; while we could supply them with cotton, rice, tobacco, salt-fish, 
deer-skins, f^eal-skins, the product of our own soil or industry, and tea, sugar, raw 
and manufactured coffee, dye-stuffs, &c., the proceeds of our commerce with others. 

"It is to be remarked that none of these Powers, — and the same remark may be 
extended to Turkey and Greece, — can entertain the least jealousy of our growth ; nor 
have either of them any shipping or commercial interests to interfere with ours, 
(xreece will, hereafter, be extensively maritime, and therefore it becomes important 
that we should endeavor at once to impress upon her councils that simple, equitable, 
and enlightened system of just reciprocity under which our commerce has flourished 
in so unexampled a manner. In short, no two parts of the world seena so well fitted 
by natural wants, and the absence of all causes of competition, for a close commercial 
connection with each other. 

"There are three routes by which the interior of Germnny is supplied with 
foreign commodities: 1st, by the Rhine, through the Netherlands; 2d, by Ham- 
burg and Bremen to Hanover, Brunswick, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden, 
Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Switzerland ; 3d, from Havre by Ments to Frankfort or 
by Strasburg to the south of Germany and Switzerland. The latter has almost 
ceased to be a route of import, but is the most used to export. 

" All these route*, according to a distinguished American writer, who has travelled 
through the country, have the disadvantage of great vexation and delay; * but it is 
said that since the period at which he wrote, and perhaps owing to the Confederacies 
which liave been mentioned, the transit duties have become more moderate. 
So sensible have the French now become of the increasing importance of the German 
trade, that a scheme is actually on foot to make a railway through Paris to Frankfort. 

* In the most populous parts of Germany the merchant is met at every few leagues with 
a fresh line of Custom Houses. Let him travel by land or water, every second or third day 
brings him into a new sovereignty, wliich must be acknowledged by the payment of new toils 
and duties. No lawful and honest trade can flourisli under such oppression, and the neces- 
sary consequence of it is an extensive contraband traffic, the decline of industry, and 
the general imiioverishment of the country. The minor states are now deliberating together, 
by deputations, on this subject, and arc endeavoring to digest a plan for the abolition of all 
duties upon internal commerce. The liberal governments in the south of Germany are under- 
stood to be at the head of this attempt, and their object is, if possible, to clear the way of 
these pernicious barriers by laud and wat«M- from Switzerland to the Ocean. The vast benefit 
that would result from this to every individual and every nation affected by it, is obvious at 
a glance. Europe. By a Citizen of the United States. Page 214. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 181 

" By the table A ia the appendix, it appears that the total of the population of 
that part of Europe with which the United States have no diplomatic iutercourse, is 
about ninety-four millions, and that the population of the countries in Europe Avith 
which the United States have diplomatic intercourse, is one hundred and forty-three 
millions five hundred thousand. Here are eiglit Powers whose aggregate population 
is in round numbers one hundred and forty-three and a half millions, or on an 
average a Minister to every eighteen millions of inhabitants, while to more than 
fifty other Powers, consisting of a population of about ninety-four millions, we send 
none. 

"It is worth considering what would be the effect of introducing any one of our 
commodities for the consumption of any considerable portion of these ninety-four 
millions of inhabitants, or of securing to our shipping the carrying trade for them. 
A single pound of any commodity carried for each would give employment to forty - 
seven thousand tons of sliipping ; a jiound of any of our valuable exports, tobacco, 
rice, cotton, &c. consumed by each would amount to many millions ; aud the duties 
upon the return cargoes, or upon such articles of reinvestment in some shape or 
other, would more than repay to tlie Government the whole present as well as the 
extended foreign intercourse as proposed. 

" To Great Britain and Ireland we send cotton to the value of fifteen millions six 
hundred thousand dollars; tobacco to the value of one million eight hundred thou- 
sand ; flaxseed to the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; indigo to the 
amount of about half a million of dollars ; making a total of these articles alone of 
very nearly one dollar for each person. 

" To the IsTetherlands we send, in cotton and tobacco alone, to the value of a 
million of dollars, and in other articles of domestic produce eight hundred thousand 
dollars more ; making an average of about thirty cents for each inhabitant. 

"To France our exports of domestic produce are near eight millions, or about 
twenty -five cents for each inhabitant. 

" At present our exports of domestic produce to the eighty-seven millions of 
inhabitants belonging to that part of Europe with which we have no diplomatic 
intercourse, exclusive of Turkey and Greece, may be estimated as follows: 

By Trieste and Venice $119,000 

To Italy generally -. 279,000 

To Denmark we send $150,000 (one third of this is supposed 

to be sent to the interior) 50,000 

To the Hanse Towns 1,800,000 

Of tiie $1,800,000 sent to the Netherlands, it may be sup- 
posed (and this is a large allowance), that one third goes 
to the interior 000,000 

Making an aggregate of $2,248,000 

which is equal to about two cents and one half of a cent for each inhabitant. . 
Admitting, therefore, that by a diplomatic intercourse we should lind the means of 
increasing our exports so as to make them equal to those of France, the lowest in 
the scale, we should have an additional market for about twenty millions of dollars 
more than we now export ; but the trade with France employs about seventy-five 
tons of American shipping, and consequently in the same proportion the countries in 



182 KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

question would employ two hundred thousand tons. This may be said to he a calcu- 
lation founded upon correct data, but that the deductions are false, if it is intended 
by it to show that by establishing a diplomatic intercourse with these countries 
such an increase of our commerce would necessarily follow. In reply, I admit that 
it is not pretended that the residence of Ministers in these countries would create 
tliis commerce; but it will not be denied that it would promote it; else why are 
Ministers sent to other countries in Europe? else why was the Government desirous, 
even at the hazard of a much greater expense than has been incurred, to form a 
commercial treaty with the Porte? It cannot be said that by the treaty last referred 
to, we can create an extended commerce with the dominions of the Porte in Europe 
and Asia, or with that part of Russia which is situated on the Black Sea, and yet it 
cannot be denied that tins arrangement, if it is followed up by proper measures, will 
tend to promote a vast increase of our commerce, and give increased employment 
to our shipping, and that without a mission the object of this treaty will be frustrated. 

" I am led, by these facts and considerations, to believe, and strongly to urge, 
the propriety of extending our diplomatic intercourse by sending a Minister to 
Turkey, another to Prussia, another to Austria, a Charge d' Affaires to Naples, and, 
at present, an agent for the purpose of inquiry to Greece ; but as soon as that Gov- 
ernment is arranged, a Charge d'Affaires. 

" The Minister to Austria ought to be accredited to and charged with power to 
form treaties with the several Powers composing the German Confederacy. 

" I have hitherto merely endeavored to show the commercial advantages that 
would result from this arrangement, antl, as connected with this view, it may be 
proper to state the probable expense of this increased intercourse. It may be said 
that the average period of the residence of our Ministers and Charges abroad is about 
three years; it might be at least four, and that the annual ex])ense of a Minister, divid- 
ing his outfit into three parts, and adding one third of it to his salary as an annual 
expense, together with contingencies estimated at one thousand dollars per annum, 
and one third of two thousand five hundred dollars, the allowance for his return, 
would make the whole annual expense of eacb Minister not les? than $13,834, and 
to a Charge, one half, $6,917, making the increased expense of three Ministers and 
a Charge d'Affaires amount in round numbers to $48,000 per annum. It may be 
said Avithout the fear of contradiction, that it is impossible this expense should not 
be more than compensated to the Government by the extension of our commerce in 
consequence of this extension of our diplomatic intercourse; but there are other 
views, which, as to the saving of expense, put the matter in even a clearer point of 
view. As our commerce is extended by its own energy, or the care of the Govern- 
ment, it must be proportionately exposed to aggressions which produce protracted 
and irritating negotiation, reprisal, or war. These wrongs will most probably be 
perpetrated by those people near whose fiovernments we have no representative; 
and it may here be remarked, that the people of Greece, habitually mariners, and 
more recently freebooters (the consequence of a protracted and barbarous warfare), 
will require us to prove to them, by an imposing display of our naval fcrce, that 
while we desire to cultivate peace with all nations, we suffer unrequited aggressions 
from none ; or, should it be otherwise, they will be readily repressed and atoned for 
by the prompt interference of our Minister, and thus, in either case, the Govern- 
ment would be saved much expense, and we should not be exposed to those irri- 
tations which so often occasion a deep-rooted hostility ; and the national honor 
would bo unsullied. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 183 

" Preliminarily to the discussion of the second and most important part of our 
subject, it is proper, in order to afrive at correct results, to advert to the political 
situation of Europe, The states of Russia, Prussia, Austria — including Italy — the 
German Confederation, Sweden and Denmark, are, with some unimportant excep- 
tions, unmixed despotisms, whose ill-fated population are destined, for a period at 
least, to endure all the evils of rigorous and unmitigated slavery. In these coun- 
tries, unfortunately, the proudest aristocracy, between whom there is a common, 
interest resulting from common dangers, have no choice in the present condition of 
popular feeling but to I'ivet their powders more securely, or to change places with 
their slaves. In the Netherlands and in England there is a basis of theoretical 
representation and a partial acknowledgment of the sacred principles of freedom ; 
but all these systems are sustained by such evident and unlimited abuses of power 
practised by the privileged classes, upon whom the existence of royalty depends — 
they are so burthensorae to the peopla^owing to excessive taxation and extrava- 
gance, that, although they claim, in comparison with the others, to be free, yet as to 
the United States and France, under the new order of things, they may be classed 
with the others. It is equally out of the power of all of them to yield more than 
they have already done to the people without endangering their respective fabrics 
of government. "We are therefore permitted in this view of the subject to assert, 
that all the principalities and powers of Europe must be colaborators with the 
former openly, and the two latter, or perhaps Great Britain, covertly, in the difficult 
work of repressing political opinion, 

" After the great Powers at the Congress of Vienna had partitioned Europe, dis- 
severing Belgium from France, and joining her in an unnatural alliance with 
Holland ; taking FreudLind from Sweden to add to the overgrown strength of 
Eussia, and thus depriving the virtuous and peaceful Danes of Norway in order to 
compensate Sweden ; the Emperors of Russia and Austria with the King of Prussia 
formed the 'Holy Alliance,' to which the other Powers were invited, and many of 
them did accede. Thus formed, this misnamed association engaged at Verona ' in 
the most solemn manner to employ all their means and to unite all their efforts to 
put an end to this (representative) system of government wherever it is known to 
exist in the states of Europe, and to prevent it from being introduced into those 
states where it is not known.' At Tropau and Laybach they asserted in unquali- 
fied terms the right, on general principles, of putting down revolution whenever it 
should display itself in other independent nations. The attempted revolution of 
Naples was approved by the king, who could not be brought even at Laybach to 
express a different opinion. And yet the Allies then set forth the following pre- 
tensions : ' If,' say they, ' in a case of revolution the king disapproves the proceed- 
ings, we claim the right of interfering in his defence. If the king approves, then, 
however completely he may be out of danger, he must be considered as acting under 
compulsion, and the right of interference remains.' These declarations were not 
empty menaces. Austria, backed by the Cossacks of Eussia, marched her armies 
into Italj^ suppressed this ill-concerted and feeble effort of the people of Naples, 
and made them the most abject slaves in all Europe. If I well recollect, there is but 
one newspaper published in all the Austrian-Italian states, and that is under the 
strictest censorship. None are allowed to be introduced, and the people dare not 
express their opinions of piiblic measures in any form. 

" The duty of fulfilling these engagements when a revolution was attempted in 



184 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Spain, devolved on France ; and her formidable army, commanded by the Dauphin, 
restored the feeble Ferdinand to unlimited authority, and the inquisition to its power 
of executing its secret and unerring vengeance ui)on all who dared to serve their 
country by reforming the abuses of the Government. 

" In addition to this most conclusive evidence on tlie part of the ' Holy Alliance ' 
of what (hey, the Holy Alliance, determined and dared to do, it is wortliy of re- 
mark, as strongly illustrative of their power, that Avheu the invasion of Naples by 
the Austrians Avas under consideration in the British Parliament, the iIini^t^y, in 
defending their passive policy, pretended ' to maintain that the proceedings of Aus- 
tria might hejustijied on the ground of the danger to her dominions in Italy from the 
estallishment of a liberal government at Naples.'^ As well might England be justi- 
fied in attempting to put down the liberal government of the United States as 
dangerous to her dominions on this continent. The iniquitous assumption is too 
absurd to require to be refuted. It has resilted from a consciousness of moral weak- 
ness and the possession of military force. And tliey have possessed the latter to a 
degree in which the present state of aflairs at home has even intimidated England. 

'' The successful eflort of the people of France to resist oi^pressiju and to estab- 
lish a government for themselves must, as well in obedience to those solemn en- 
gagements as to the dictates of self-defence on the part of those who rule by ' Divine 
Bight ' to repress those kindling principles upon which representative governments 
depend, whose light, unless extinguished by t\)ree, must idtimately extend tlirough- 
out Europe, — this elFort, I say, must by its power shake to the centre every throne, 
however deeply rooted or strongly cemented by time and the blood of its subjects, 

" The power of repression, to be successful, must be extended beyond the effort 
to preserve order. In Spain, in Italy, in the Netherlands, in Austria and Prussia, 
it must be pushed even to the restoration of the government as it was in France. 
A Republic, whether its chief be a President or a Citizen-King^ cannot exist in 
France without kindling the same spirit of freedom in the breasts of those who are 
near them and inducing them to make continual eftbrts at revolt. The time is be- 
lieved to have arrived when the pure and holy spirit of liberty has gone forth ; his 
trump lias sounded, calling the enslaved of Europe to be free; and they must obey 
his voice, as implicitly as will the spirits of the dead obey the call of tlie Arch- 
angel on the last day to judgment. From these considerations, it is believed that 
the peace of Europe cannot be preserved. It is, however, said by those who enter- 
tain a different opinion, that the Sovereigns have a middle course ; that they may 
satisfy their people and maintain their power by making partial surrenders. I an- 
swer, that temporizing, under existing circumstances, will not do. To yield, partic- 
ularly to the clamors of an enlightened people, as are those of the West of Europe, 
is to give up all. The contest in Franco was not commenced or carried on to avoid 
an impending or to be realized from a pressing evil ; it was a contest for great prin- 
ciples, for the right of self-government ; and so will it be elsewhere. It is a contest 
for rights which the Allies correctly declare to be as incompatible with the mo- 
narchical principle as the maxim of the sovereignty of the people is opposed to the 
principles of Divine Right. Reason renders it quite clear that thus to purchase 
forbearance from the people would be deemed an admission of their power which 
would give increased energy to the tone as well as latitude to their demands. Ex- 
perience ])roves it to be equally certain that in their first elforts to be free (as was 
the case with the people of France in the first revolution), a people unaccustomed to 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 185 

self-govei'uraent will not stop at the boundary between just, salutary restraint and 
dissHstine; licentiousness. But if it be admitted that on the whole it would be more 
wise to yield than to resist, let ns see whether that is the course the powers of 
Europe will probably adopt. Princes do not derive wisdom from their own or the 
experience of others. The admonitions of the last thirty years have been unavail- 
ing to tliem. The present period of a peace of unexampled duration has not been 
improved to soften the rigors of their systems. It is true the King of Prussia has, 
from time to time, held out to his subjects the mo?t flattering expectations ; he 
has even gone so far as to appoint a commission to report the plan of a constitu- 
tional government ; but at the same time, as we have seen, he entered into the most 
solemn engagements with his allies to put down all the representative systems in 
Europe, and to prevent all others from being formed. Tlie Emperor of Austria 
urged the German union to form representative governments, but denied to his own 
people the slightest participation in such advantages, and has bound his Italian 
dominions in the most abject slavery. The King of the Netherlands, not less incon- 
sistent than the two former monarchs, although he granted to his people, as a boon, 
a representative government, at the same time secured the irresponsibility of him- 
self or his ministers, and as the best means of making that exemption eftectual, has 
endeavored to extend it even to public opinion hy destroying the freedom of the 
press. His people are weighed down by exactions. With a population of about 
six millions, his public debt amounts to not less than seven hundred millions of 
dollars. 

" The King of France, as an act of grace, granted to his subjects the charter of 
1815, and he and his successors have from that time made unceasing efforts to 
destroy it. 

" There are no sympathies between princes and their subjects; the former know 
nothing of the power or the sutFerings of the latter. Accustomed to implicit obe- 
dience, relying upon the force they have always at command and upon the advice 
of deeply interested counsellors, they generally seek the shortest and to them the 
most obvious and accustomed route to obtain their end. The points of their swords 
■will be relied upon to give the law to their subjects without discussion, compromise, 
or qualification. In this contest France, however much she may wish to avoid it, 
must be a party; she well understands that it is better to fight for the right of self- 
government in Belgium, the arena of Europe, having that w^arlike people and the 
invincible Spaniard and even the degraded Italian for her allies, tlian single-handed 
at the gates of Paris. 

" From these general considerations I am convinced there must be a war in 
Europe involving the most interesting issue to all mankind. I also believe it will 
not be immediate, unless it is accidental, because the Allies will most probably first 
attempt to sow dissension in France ; and in the event of civil war, to take part with 
the adherents of the Duke of Bordeaux or the Duke of Eechstadt, as events may 
require. The conduct of the banished monarch while on his return to France and 
of his friends in withdrawing from the Chamber of Deputies and the House of Peers, 
was dictated by a firm reliance upon the support of that alliance of which he was a 
distinguished member. The prompt acknowledgment by England and even by the 
other Powers ought not to induce ns to hesitate in this belief; by any otlier cause 
they will unite all France against a common enemy, and thus diminish the chance 
of these dissensions to which I have referred. They would likewise be called, by 



ISO REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

an immediate war, from tliat watclifulness wliich tbeir situation at home at this 
moment particularly demands. To delay the contest is therefore their intent, as it 
will he their policy. Our system always has been, hut is now more particularly, 
an object of deep and settled hatred to the Powers of Europe. It is now adverted 
to as the source of this accumulation of evils. Our course on this occasion, at the 
very outset of the first communication of the Executive to Congress, will be looked 
to with the deepest interest by both parties, while it will he watched with a 
marked jealousy by one. Under these circumstances it would be wise— nay, it is 
indispensably necessary— that we should in the event of a war, in order to give effect 
to our determination to preserve a rigid neutrality, extend our diplomatic relations 
to all the parties to the contests, and to enlarge our navy, not only that the bellige- 
rents may be directly informed of our pacific policy, but that they may be aware 
of our determination and our ability to enforce our rights as neutrals ; and by thus 
being enabled upon the first a.L'gression to make the most prompt, decided, but tem- 
perate remonstrances, we will probably prevent a repetition of offences, and much 
greater evils, or at all events it will deprive the other combatants of tlie excuse for 
similar excesses resulting from an appearance of tame or pusillanimous acquiescence 
on our part. 

" If there should not be an immediate conflict, missions at this moment to the 
courts actuated by the feelings to which I have referred will tend to allay their jeal- 
ousies and soothe their irritations, and at the same time have the eftect of forcing our 
country and its institutions into the notice thus of all classes ; of inducing the intel- 
ligent and well-informed to examine the principles upon which our government is 
founded, and thus to make comparisons between them and the burthensome mass 
of absurdities to which they are subjected. Thus will the people of these countries 
become enamored of liberty and capable of maintaining it. Represented by our be- 
nign and beautiful system, she appears to mankind in the most fascinating form ; 
whereas, by the outrages of the French Eebellion of 1790 against all that was wise 
and gooJ, she is represented as a disgusting harlot intoxicated with the blood and 
corru[itions of her followers. The unostentatious and citizen-like appearance of a 
foreign Minister would then be an object of general and intense curiosity. The ap- 
pearance, manner, conversation, and character of Dr. Franklin, and of Mr. Jefferson 
after him, in France, is understood to have produced much of that enthusiasm and 
love of liberty which, before the revolution, pervaded a certain class of men in 
that country. 

"It seems now to be admitted, as civilization advances just views of government 
follow after it ; in other words, as men learn to reason rightly they discover that 
government is for, and ought to be established by, the many and not the few. Noth- 
ing has diffused the lights of civilization equally with commercial intercourse. The 
history of the world attests the truth of this remark, and no country affords a more 
illustrious example of its advantages in this respect than does that of England when 
she emerged from the bondage of the feudal system. Her haughty Barons, who suc- 
cessfully resisted the power of the Crown through the force of their vassals, yielded 
to its mighty influence, and at length sought its aid to limit the power of the Crown. 
If therefore by the extended dii)lomacy of our country we can extend our com- 
merce, wo shall be instrumental in some degree in loosening the chains of those who 
are still held in ignorance and bondage, and we will thus form alliances between 
free principles and a portion at least of the people of ev^ry one of the arbitrary 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 1S7 

governments of Europe, which will be useful without being at all embarrassing 
to us. 

" October, 1830. James A. Hamilton." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, September 10, 1830. 
"My Dear Sir : I have a curious request to make of you. I talked over with 
you, going to Ballston, the subject of internal improvements by Congress, and what 
might with advantage be said by me, and in a manner which was quite satisfactory 
to myself and it appeared to be so to you. I made no memorandum, and am confi- 
dent some things have escaped me to which I then attached importance. Write me 
your recollections, and if they do not hit upon the same ideas, they cannot, never- 
theless, fail to be useful. 

" Believe me to bo 

" Yours truly, &c." 

On the receipt of this letter I hastily prepared a statement of the con- 
versation referred to. It embraced two important subjects : one, Internal 
Improvements ; the other, Impressment. 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, September 80, 1830. 

"Dear Sir: Give yourself no uneasiness about the enclosed. I had picked up 
my lost ideas before I received your recollections, and put them into a form witli 
which I am highly delighted. You will be surprised to find how much you had re- 
tained of our conversation. 

, "In haste, your friend, &c." 

President ANDRE\y Jackson to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, October 5, 1830. 

" My Dear Sir : Your letter, with the slippers presented, was received two days 
ago, but we have been so busied with the despatches opening the West India trade, 
some little difliculty having arisen in the mind of the Secretary of the Treasury on 
the subject of the instructions to be issued to the Collectors, that no leisure was 
presented to me until now. We arranged this last evening, and I hope our return 
despatch will reach New York in time for the packet of the 8th. 

" I sincerely thank you for the solicitude you take with regard to my health, 
and have the pleasure to inform you that it has improved, altliough a little checked 
by a bad cold taken since my return to this city. It would aflford us great pleasure 
to see you here. I have much to say to you, and some letters to show you that 
might afford you some amusement, which would not be proper to submit in a letter. 
Major Donelson, Lewis, and my son all join in their respects to you, 

" And believe me, 

" Sincerely your friend, &c." 



188 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

" LoNDOx, October 6, 1830. 

" My Dear Sir : I have just returned from a visit to Paris, but have not a mo- 
ment to write a long letter even to V. B., and therefore must put off until the next 
packet a letter of more detailed infonnation to you. I write now a single line in 
consequence of your letter of the 23d August, wliich I found here waiting my return. 
In tliat letter you observe, 'I wrote you a long confidential letter on the 27th June 
last, informing you of divers interesting matters, but particularly of certain proposed 
changes here in which you are particularly as well as generally interested. Your 
arrival will be looked for about the middle of next month.' Now I never received 
such a letter. I received in May last a letter from you dated the 10<A April, which 
Avas long and confidential, and corresponding in all other respects with the above de- 
scrijjtion, which I answered by the next packet ; but I have received no letter of June 
nor any other letter of any other date on any subject whatsoever from you between 
the ICtii April and that of the 23d August, w^hich I am now answering. Of course, 
I am ignorant of the object of your letter of the 27th June, and of course you will 
receive no answer to it. You speak of having no fears of the small Western States 
who will return Senators ; what then are we to think of the accounts in the Intelli- 
gencer, of dates later than your letter, taking from us not Kentucky only, but Illinois, 
Indiana, Louisiana, and JMissovri? Can it be possible that the Editors have been 
so profligate as to parade this fiilse intelligence to aflfect the elections in Maryland 
and Delaware ? It may be so, and I hope that this is the explanation ; but then, 
even these accounts, together with the exaggerated state of aft'airsin South Carolina, 
have an unfavorable influence here, in weakening confidence in the strength and 
permanence of the administration. Van Biiren, and you, and Cambreling, should 
have foreseen this, and if the accounts in the Intelligencer be false, have kept me 
well informed of the real state of things. You have all left this Legation too depend- 
ent upon newspapers, which that youthful agent, Mr. Brent, professes to put up twice 
a month. France is not yet settled, though if peace continue in Europe, I think she 
will go on and establish her government. But a European war is scarcely to be 
avoided. Everywhere the elements of discord and rupture are active and potent. 
This government will exert every nerve and make almost any sacrifice to preserve 
peace, and will not interfere if she can help it. I believe nothing short of an at- 
tempt to unite Belgium with France, or in some other way to extend the territorial 
limits of France, will draw Great Britain into the war. But of all these things, in 
detail more in my next. Meantime, let me into the secrets and doings at home, and 

"Believe me, 

" Very truly yours, itc. 
" You should make some inquiries about your letter of the 27th of June. 

" P. S. Randolph is at present in London, having quit St. Petersburgh in conse- 
quence of bad health. He says Juba had the black vomit at St. Petersburgh. He 
has sent him to the U. S. with all his trumpery, but means to travel himself in the 
south of Europe, first buying in London a leaden coflin in case of accident. In 
health, he is a good deal shattered, and looks badly." * 

j * Randolph was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia. 
( Shorlly after his arrival, lie was presented, and made himself very ridiculous. 

The presentation is in the Throne-Room of the Winter Palace. Their Majesties the Em- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 189 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, October 13, 1830. 

"My Dear Sik: lam so deeply laden down with business (more so tlian ever, if 
possible), that I have only time to say a word. The General Van Sholten is here, 
and will make his speech to-morrow. His papers are quite informal, but we will 
send him away, at least personally pleased. Although we have enough in all con- 
science to meet Congress with, I should not be surprised if before they meet we receive 
valuable additions. The negotiations in France and Spain — the sluggard Spain — 
keep me busy. You see in the extract from the Boston paper, republished in the 
Intelligencer of to-day, that it is admitted that the Act of 1823 lost us the trade. 
This is giving up the question, as it is well known that Mr. Adams drew up that Act ; 
that its provisions were covered over by the lapse of the w^ord elsewhere; so much so 
that the British Government even felt it necessary to ask for explanations as to its 
meaning, but he insisted upon it for years, and gave it up when it was too late. 
What do they mean ? Is it to get Mr. Clay out of the scrape, and throw all the blame 
upon Mr. Adams ?*********** 

" Mirabeau said of the Bourbons, ' tliat they always came too late to do good.' 
How applicable to the Adamses ! y" Yours truly, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson, 

"New York, October 16, 1830. 

"My Dear Sir: I had the pleasure to receive your letters of the 5th and 8th 
instant, informing me of your safe arrival and improved health. 

" Your success in adjusting that difficult matter, the West India Trade, is very 
properly appreciated liere by all ranks and parties, except the factious cavilers, who 
deceive themselves in their efforts to delude the people. We daily see in the Post 
the evidence, and receive information from those further East, which assure us that 
it will give greatly increased activity to our commerce. 

"Among the measures of congratulation to you, the increase of our impost rev- 

peror and Empress leave the Throne, those who are to be presented forming a semicircle 
in front of the Throne, on the left the ambassador of highest rank, and the others in suc- 
cession. I speak of the arrangements when I was presented in the winter of 1841-42. The 
Emperor, attended by a Chamberlain, begins at the lel't and goes along the whole line, the 
names of the different persons to be presented being announced to him in turn. After the 
Emperor, the Empress follows, in full court dress, a page holding up her train ; a Chamberlain 
accompanies her, announcing each person in turn as she approaches him. She holds out the 
back of her hand to be kissed ; the person presented takes her hand in his. The Courtiers 
are arranged on each side of the Throne according to their rank, male and female. They 
form a semicircle facing those who are to be presented. 

When Her Majesty approached John Randolph, American Minister Plenipotentiary, intend- 
ing to be most profoundly respectful he went down on one knee. He had on leather hunting 
gloves, rather tight, and while she was holding out her hand, he was tugging away at the glove 
to get it off, but in vain. He was a very thin, awkward man, and was said to look like a 
forked radish. This awkward circumstance continued so long that all the lookers-on burst out 
into a laugh. Her Majesty with great condescension put her hand down to him and he kissed 
it. This rendered him so ridiculous that he did not remain long at his post. When he was 
to be presented in London, McLane told me he insisted upon going in the presence of Majesty 
in so outrageous a manner that his entrance was resisted by the attendants. 

He was a man of great purity, a finished scholar of decided talents and much experience, 
but erratic in the 'extreme, and of an imperious temper. -^ 



190 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

enues is not to be overlooked. This will not only afford the means, more rapidly 
than was anticipated, of absorbing the public debt, but it tends to show that the pro- 
tective system has not been productive of the evils to our commerce which were so 
confidently anticipated by its opponents. 

" The recent events in Europe are full of interest here, as well as on the other 
side of the water. Ought we not to look to a general war as an event at least so 
probable, as to prepare the outlines of a system suited to such a state of things? 
But more of this when we meet, which pleasure, I regret to say, appears likely to 
be deferred until after the 5th or 6th of the next month, owing to the continued 
sessions of the U. S. Courts in this district, 

" With my best wishes I remain, dear sir, your friend, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, October 17, 1830. 
" My Deak Sie : * * * * You see that Eaton has succeeded in negotiating 
a treaty with the Choctaws. This is an important matter, and breaks the force of the 
Indian question. The Choctaws and Chickasaws are the most formidable tribes, and 
the rest must follow, of course. The General is much pleased with this matter. We 
really go on swimmingly. Yours truly, &c." 

P. Van Sholten to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, October 80, 1830. 

" My Deae Sie : Your very friendly and welcome letter reachedrae yesterday, 
and gave me great pleasure, as a proof of the continuation of your friendship for me, 
to which I consider myself indebted, not only for the most agreeable hours I have 
passed with you and your family, but also for the flattering reception and facility of 
intercourse which I have met with here. Your kind intentions of writing to me for 
some time past bave, I assure you, been reciprocated by me. In tbe execution, how- 
ever, I certainly stand as the debtor, and trust to your indulgence for my acquittal, 
having been so occupied and so sick since my arrival, as to have deferred the pleasure 
of communicating with you until your personal appearance here, of which, according 
to the report, I have been in daily expectation. 

" I have just given in my note, in form of an ultimatum, for the private perusal 
of Mr. Van Buren, and wish particularly that you could have seen it while in the 
rough." 

PRESIDENT JACKSON'S MESSAGE, 1830. 
J. A. Hamilton to a Friend. 

" Washington, 5 o'clock, P. M., Nov. 21, 1830. 
" I arrived here this afternoon ; found Van Buren busily engaged with matters 
relating to the approaching meeting of Congress, in which I was immediately 
enlisted, and so continued until dinner. I understand the President has got all the 
materials for his Message now before him ; how far it has progressed I do not know." 

A Letter to the Same. 

"President's House, November 24, 1830. 
" I have no power to write more than to say I was all of yesterday, and until 3 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 191 

o'clock in the morning, engaged at the old work (preparing the Message), and again 
to-day ; and so I shall be continued on the rack until I depart, which 1 hoped would 
have been on the 1st or 2d proximo ; but, as I learn to-day that the Cabinet 
meeting as to the Message is not to be held until Saturday, I fear I cannot get away 
so soon. 

"lam now preparing the picture, which will be so much daubed by the different 
efforts at improvement, as probably to obliterate all I now do ; and then I shall have 
to work as hard again to restore the original or finish the substitute." 

A Letter to the Same. 

"President's House, November 28, 1830. 

"The Cabinet Council of yesterday went off well; there was very little daubing, 
and consequently but little reparation to be made. The Message will be a strong one, 
touching four or five most interesting points, on all of which the President is very 
explicit. The suggestions as to the Bank I do not approve ; his plan is impracticable ; 
I made efforts to amend and omit— neither would do. I write tliis to you that I may 
be on pnper in that view. All is going on well. 

" I have received great attention here, and am altogether gratified by ray visit. 
The refractory members of the Cabinet have become tame ; nay more, absolutely 
subdued." 

To the Same. 

" Washington, November 30, 1830. 
"As to the Message, the preliminary work is completed, and the reparation, 
after the Cabinet have passed upon it, is very excessive. I shall leave here on Tuesday. 
" ' The Phm ' is, I fear, not as well thought of by Yan Buren as it was ; he inti- 
mates an indisposition to be Vice-President, and some safe man is spoken of. This 
may be real, or to divert public attention. I have expressed a most decided opinion 
against its expediency. The difficulties in the Cabinet are drawing to a crisis, and 
one removal at least must be made (Ingham) ere long." 

A Letter to the Same. 

" President's House, November, 1830. 

" I am a prisoner in the house, condemned to unceasing labor. Last night I did 
not get to bed until between two and three o'clock, and to sleep only half my usual 
time. To-night my vigils will be more extended, for, by to-morrow evening, I hope 
to complete my preliminary labors. The President's kindness and confidence exceeds 
even what was before evinced. I therefore feel so much pleasure in serving him, 
that my labors are light as a lady's task. When the heart prompts us, there is no 
limit to our exertions. I think the Message will be better than the last one. To- 
morrow Mr. Vaughan gives me a dinner. 

" Van Sholten (Danish Minister) will return to New York probably with me, 
on his way to St. Croix, whither he is to be conveyed in a public ship. The rejec- 
tion of his propositions will be given in such mellowed terras as to take from it 
its sting." 



192 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

"London, December 16, 1830. 

" My Dear Sir : I Iiave no time for <i long letter. But I am fTpprehensive, from 
tlie fact that I have never received your letter of July, which in another you slated 
you liad written, that some of mine also have miscarried, and that tliese are accidents 
peculiarly attending our correspondence. Will you do me the favor, therefore, to 
say whether you received a long letter from me by the pncket "which took out the 
result of my negotiation, and also a letter dated, I believe, the 0th of October, in 
■which I informed you that 1 had never received your letter of July, stated by you 
to be confidential ? 

" The revolution in Poland will give a new turn to affairs in Europe, but it is im- 
possible now to foresee its elfects. 

" I fear the elections are not as fixvorable as vve could desire, and that our old 
chief is carrying too much weight. 

" Believe me to be, &c." 



CHAPTEE VII. 



FEOM JANUARY, 1831, TO JAXUAEY, 1834. 

JForeign affairs — Vindicatioa agnin'^t Mr. Calhoun's charges — Mr. Rhind and the 
horses presented by the Sublime Porte — The negotiations with the Sublime 
Porte — Resignation of Mr. Van Buren — Changes in the Cabinet — The jewels 
stolen from the Princess of Orange — Their I'ecovery — The nuUificatiou niove- 
ment — Gibbs the pirate — The United States Bank — Resignation. 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Euren. 

"New York, January 10, 1831. 

" My Dear Sie : I wish you would send me a copy of the English and Danish 
correspondence. 

"When the Rev. John McVickar was in London, he endeavored to obtain copies 
of reports, &c., printed by order of Parliament, and in doing so received great assist- 
ance from Lord Lyndurst, Mr. Horries, and other distinguished gentlemen. In the 
course of his intercourse with the gentlemen named, he suggested the propriety of 
interchanges of such papers by our two governments. The intimation was well 
received, and he was assured that, if such a step was proposed, it would be adopted 
and acted upon by them in the most liberal manner. I therefore beg leave to sug- 
gest that you write a note to Mr. Vaughan, informing him that you have given 
orders that he be furnished with all Reports not of a confidential nature, that are 
printed for the use of the two Houses of Congress, that he may be enabled to furnish 
his government with such of them as are deemed useful. Ho will, without any in- 
timation from you, naturally, or rather necessarily, induce the same proceeding on 
their part ; and if he does not, by sending a copy of your note to McLane, the matter 
will be brought to the notice of the British Government, The information thus ob- 
tained would be highly useful to us in so many points of view, as really to make it 
an object of national concern. 

"With great regard, your friend, &c." 

Commander Navy Yard, Brooklyn, to James A. Hamilton, Esq., District 
Attorney of the Southern District of New York, 

"U. S. Navy Yard, New York,) 
"January 22, 1831. J 

" Sir : I had the honor this morning to receive your communication of yesterday's 

13 



194 REMIISISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

(late, and in repl}' to state, that the Vincennes is not detained on account of not receiv- 
ing funds, although the amount required has not been remitted, owing probably to 
the state of the roads. 

" If the necessary funds should not arrive in time, and the Navy Agent should de- 
cline furnishing the amount upon the necessary requisition approved by me, I will 
then avail myself of your kind oflfer to furnish the necessary funds. 

"The Vincennes is entirely ready for sea, so far as depends upon myself or Cap- 
tain Shubrick, and she will proceed on the first f^ivorable opportunity, because I do 
not feel authorized to detain her under the circumstances in which Governor Van 
Sholten is placed, although I have been informed by the Navy Commissioners that 
they had instructed Commodore Stewart and Mr. Humphreys to proceed to this 
place and survey the AHncennes, previous to her proceeding to sea. These gentlemen 
■have not yet arrived. I have the'honor to be, very respectfully Sir, 

" Your most obedient servant." 

Louis McLane, Minister, &c., to James A. Hamilton. 

"London, January 30, 1831. 
" Mt Dear Sie : I am far from thinking that the danger of a general war in Eu- 
rope has subsided. Peace cannot be considered safe until the difficulties in Belgium 
and Poland shall be settled, and these, I think, are increasing. The object of the 
London Conferences has been, in my opinion, to place the Prince of Orange on the 
Belgian throne as the nearest means of reconciling all parties to Belgian independ- 
ence, and in that way to preserve the peace of Europe ; but I do not bel'eve that 
object is attainable, and there can be little doubt that by the liberal party in France 
the Belgians have been encouraged to reject his pretensions. That party desires a 
union with France, and certainly a separation of Belgium from the policy and power 
of the allies. Their aim will not be easily baffled, and with this party Louis Phi- 
Jippe (now essentially a " legitimate"), at no distant day will have to try his strength. 
^Meantime, Belgium is threatened with counter revolution, with intestine divisions, 
-ivith a want of any lofty or sound sagacity, and with all the horrors of anarchy. 
"Either a counter revolution, or any of the other evils, must renew the war in that 
■country, and which could not be prevented afterward from spreading. There is too 
much well-founded jealousy with both England and France, of Russian power, to 
view without alarm the total overthrow of the Poles. It is obvious that the rights 
■secured to Poland by the treaties of Vienna have been shamefully violated, and if 
there be any force in such obligations, the allies ought not to leave those gallant peo- 
ple to the mercy of the Pvussian tyrant. No one doubts that the'vast military pre- 
^parations in Prussia previous to the Polish revolution were intended for operations on 
,a much larger scale than the Belgian theatre ; and as little can it be doubted that if 
Poland be now at once sufficiently subdued, the real objects of the Autocrat will 
.again revive. There would be little to prevent him in that event from strengthening 
.his forces with Austria, Prussia, and Holland, and marching at ouce into France. 
Neither England nor France can be supposed to be insensible to this danger, and it 
is already rumored that means are preparing to guard against it. If Poland there- 
fore can resist Russia for a time, the probability of war is great ; if she cannot, and 
Russia attempts anything further, war would be unavoidable. All these things will 
■soon come to a crisis however, and I may be able even to-morrow to add a postscript 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 195 

reporting the clioice of a sovereign in Belgium, for wliom tiie election was to take 
place on the 28th instant. I doubt if the public men are adequate to grapple with 
the events of the times, and my belief is that, if peace be preserved, it will be by 
chance. The spirit of free institutions is abroad, lias taken deep root, and tlie ex- 
plosion must come. It is, indeed, the spirit of freedom which is now rocking Europe, 
and what is thereto compose that spirit? Bayonets cannot do it, and monarchs 
will not ; therefore, these elements in my opinion are nut to know peace. 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Andrew Jackson. 

"New Yoek, February 3, 1831. 

" Mt dear Sie : I had the pleasure to-day to receive a letter from our friend 
Major Lewis, in a P. S. to which he informs me in relation to the recent correspond- 
ence between you and the Vice-President tliat you had from the solicitations of the 
friends of botli parties promised to bury tlie aifair in oblivion, provided the other 
party will act in good faith. This disposition of the matter has given rise to 
difficult questions, as to what I ought to do in relation to tbe charges in these 
letters, and recently repeated in the public prints o f intrigues and mischief-makin;^'-r 
in which I am said to have participated. I wish to submit my views to you, in 
order that you may advise me as to my course. Wlien you first showed the letters 
to me, I intimated a question whether I ought not to write to Mr. Calhoun. I was 
not then anxious on the subject, because I foresaw that the letters must become 
public, and that I should then have an opportunity to do myself and another jus- 
tice. More recently, and after it was understood tiiat the Vice-Pi-esident intended 
to publish, I had collected the documents necessary to explain my participation in 
the matter, and was prepared to make such a publication (although, as I stated to 
Lewis, I would with great reluctance go into the public prints), as would show that 
the charge was groundless. My publication was then contemplated to be an answer 
to his letter to you, when that letter should be made public, as it was shortly ex- 
pected to be. That expectation is now destroyed, and thus arise the difficulties of 
my situation. Mr. Calhoun has made the charges in the letter to you. A copy of 
that letter has been gent by you to Mr. Crawford, and has been seen by Mr. Forsyth. 
Mr. Calhoun has shown the correspondence to his friends, and may have extended 
it far and wide. I cannot extend my denial and explanation as far as the charge 
has gone without publication ; and if I do so the step will almost unavoidably involve 
the deve''^vment of the whole matter, expose me to the further charge of having 
made tht ^.\iblication with mischievous intentions, and you, perhaps, as my know- 
ledge of what he has written is derived from you, with having acquiesced in a pub- 
lication by me for the purpose of getting the whole subject before the public. 
Another question may be made which is, whether your promise to bury, &c., ought 
not to bind your friends and control their conduct. The subject is full of difficulty; 
and notwithstanding the solicitude I must necessarily feel on this subject, I trust I 
am too sensible of the duties I owe to my friends, and particularly to you, not to 
be willing to take some risk of loss or to make a positive sacrifice rather tlian to 
expose them to injury by inferences that are illogical, unfair, and wholly unfounded. 
I have given you in this letter, written on the spur of the occasion, my first im- 
pressions, without having taken any decision, or even permitted myself to indulge 



190 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

a wish on the subject. And thus I determine to remain until I am advised by you, 
or sliall have fully and dispassionately deliberated upon tlie subject. 

" With the truest attachment, I remain, yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton, U. S. Dist. Att'v., to President Andrew Jackson. 

[Official.] 

"New York, February 22, 1831. 
"Sir: I observe a Bill has been introduced, authorizing a recession of Fort 
Gansevoort in this city. I think myself bound to state that a suit is now pending 
on behalf of the Corporation to recover from the Government that property, and 
that, if they succeed, the United States will be entitled to receive from their grantor, 
Mr. John Jacob Astor, the consideration money they paid for the property, with six 
per cent, interest for six years; whereas, possibly, if this bill should pa=s, that 
right would be yielded. Under the circumstances, it is deserving of consideration 
wliether anything ought to be done on the subject at this time. 

"I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, «&c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

"New York, February 24, 1831. 

"Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to inclose to you herewith the Neio Yorh 
Erening Post, containing my vindication from the charges insinuated against nie in 
Mr. Calhoun's letters and address. I hope it will meet with your approbation.* 
My object has been to avoid recrimination ; to present myself to the public as an 
injured person, and so most assuredly I am ; and to confine myself entirely to my 
own case. I liave the best evidence to prove that Van Buren determined, before 
the letter was submitted to yon, to have no concern in the matter ; but as I did not 
know what his wishes were on the subject, I have refrained from any allusion to 
him. It is manifest that he is the object of attack, and that he must come out; and 
when that is done, if he gives me permission, I will publish such parts of our cor- 
respondence as will show he was wholly disconnected from the matter. I have not 
written to you for a long time, because I did not choose to consume any portion of 
that time on which the public interests make such incessant claims. I hope you 
are in good health. 

"With the truest attachment, your friend, (fee." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

"New York, February 28, 1831. 
"My Dear Sir: I explained to Major Lewis or the President, in a recent letter 
tp be communicated to you, why I did not refer to you and our correspondence on 
the subject in my statement. I hope you are satisfied witli my course. 

"Mr. Calhoun's statement of the 24th instant, may call for a reply from me, and 
in it. I should like with your permis>ion to publish your letter asking for copies of 
the correspondence, &c., my letters accompanying them and your reply, or such 
parts of them as would not be improper to be made public. 

* See Evening Post, 24th February, 1831. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 197 

"111 my opinion, this correspondence fally disproves any plot in wliicli you par- 
ticipated wiih me, and it consequently disproves Mr. Calhoun's gross cliarges a'^^ainst 
me ; because, if you were not in a plot, lie will be at a loss to find the persons with 
whom I plotted. It also proves my re]uct:in.ce to send copies of the letters to "Wash- 
ington, a fact wholly irreconcilable with having been engaged in a plot, to bring, 
about a rupture between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun. 

" I inclose you a copy of my letter to you by which it appears tliat I t/ten com- 
municated all the circumstances of my connection with the letter from Mr. For-^yth, 
and my correspondence wiih Calhoun. "Would this letter have been written to you 
if there had been any previous understanding between us? Certainly not — it is 
contrary to the nature of things. 

"If you have the slightest wish that I should not publish this correspondence, or 
refer to it, you must intimate it. Nothing shall induce me to do any thing that 
may be deemed inexpedient by you. 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to the Duke De Regina. 

"New Yoek, March 5, 1831. 

"Dear Sir: I have the honor to inclose to you a letter I this day received from 
Mr. Daniel Brent, who is the chief clerk of the Department of Siate. 

"The practice of addressing communications to " the President and Members of 
the Congress," to which allusion is made, obtained under the old confederation of 
the United States, and was then correct, inasmuch as there was then no other organ 
of communication to the government of this country, the executivp, as well as 
legislative, power of the States being vested in the Congress, an assemblage of the 
representatives of the different States. But, after the adoption of the existing Con- 
stitution in 1789, the system was essentially changed, the executive, legislative, and 
judicial powers being vested in different departments. The first became, as regards 
foreign governments, the sole representative of the United States, and, consequently, 
the only organ of communication with them ; either directly when addressed by the 
executives of other governments, or through the Secretary of State, when addressed 
by their representatives. 

" I indulge the hope that this communication will afford you all the information 
you required on the subject to which it refers ; but if it should not, do me the favor 
to inform me in what respect it is deficient that I may have the pleasure further to 
serve you. 

""With sincere respect and regard, I have the honor to bs, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

""Washington, March 9, 1831. 

"My Dear Sir: I have only time to snatch a moment to say a word to you. 

"We are pre^sed with grave matters, whicli require our undivided attention. Mr. 

Ehind will tell you what we have done and mean to do in regard to the horses* and 

the Charge d' Affaires. I wish you would try to keep him in good feeling about the 

* For the whole matter of Mr. Rhind and the horses see the correspondence further on. 



198 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

former. I wrote you by yesterday's mail under cover to ISIr. CaTiibrelirig. The cor- 
respondence is almost forjfotten in tbe Western States, and we may soon bave mat- 
ters wbicb will entirely witlulraw public attention from it. But of tbis express no 

conjectares. Remember mc kindly to tbe family. 

"Yours truly, &c. 

" P. S.— Don't infer from my letter of yesterday, tbat I want you to say anytbing 
except in case of strong necessity." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

"New York, Marcb 12, 1831. 

" Mr Dear Sir : I have recently bad a conversation witb Mr. Gall.itin in relation 
to tbe decision of the King of tbe Netberlands. He says be has carefully traced, on 
an accurate map, the line said to bave been determined by tbe arbitrator to be our 
N. E. boundary, and finds that it gives to tbe Briti-b more than two fifths of the 
disputed territory. He further states that the arbitrator has not decided the only 
point submitted to him, viz : ' Where the line was to be run in pursuance of the 
Treaty f)/"l783." That was tbe sole point in dispute between tbe parties, and has 
been the sole subject of discussion, and was to be decided, so far as tbe principal line 
was concerned, by ascertaining what were the " highlands " referred to in that treaty. 
That instead of deciding this point by ascertaining the highland referred to, he has 
laid down a new line by way of compromise, which instead of passing along upon 
highlands runs along certain rivers. He says he was particular in forming the 
arrangement to refer to tbe subject to state the point submitted in such a way as not to 
give the arbitrator a discretion, and that be has constantly prompted Mr. Preble to 
insist tbat tbe decision should conform to that view of the subject ; and he insists 
that; this uncalled for decision is not binding upon the parties. As this is a subject 
of deep interest, as well because it involves a point of national honor, domestic 
tranquillity, and grave constitutional questions, I will, if you wish it, pursue the dis- 
cussion further with him, and give you bis more mature opinion. I am of the 
opinion tbat we may disallirm the decision from the considerations mentioned, as 
well as because the arbitrator was a political person known as the King of tbe Neth- 
erlands, and not the individual who wore the crown. That consideration, recognized 
by tbe usage of nations and founded on the soundest reasoning, will warrant us in 
taking tbe ground that tbe political person was gone, or so materially changed before 
tbe decision, as to avoid the whole submission and to make the decision that of a 
stranger. That these considerations, which might be merely theoretically true and 
yet of no practical importance, assume a much more serious character, when it is 
known that tbe political destiny of the arbitrator was, at tbe time of the decision, 
in tbe bands of one of the [larties to the controversy, and that delicacy should, under 
such circumstances, bave induced tbe King of Holland to decline the performance 
of a trust that was committed to the King of tbe Netherlands when England was a 
party, she being one of tbe first great powers then having under their consideration 
the future condition of tbis very King. 

" It is, 1 think, quite clear that tbe Federal Government has no power under the 
Constitution to give up any part of tbe States to another power. Tbe right to do so 
under the necessity wbicb might result, from a state of disastrous warfare would not 
depend upon the Constitution, but upon powers of a higher nuture — powers result- 
ing from principles upon Avhicb tbe Government itself depends, and w^ben their ex- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 199 

ercise might be called upon to preserve not only the Constitution but the Nation 
itself. Abandoning a portion of the territory under such circumstances, would be. 
only yielding to a necessity that could not be avoided, and therefore is above all 
considerations of rights, or powers, or principles ; and although a treaty might be 
formed under such direful circumstances which would abandon even a State, it 
would be considered to be made under powers newly acquired: the result of neces- 
sity, and consented to by silent acquiescence. The submission to an arbitrator to 
determine a disputed boundary does not involve the right to give up a portion of 
the territory ; because, although the decision may be against our pretensions, or those 
of the particular State, whereia that line was ascertained, cr if in any other 
manner the unfounded pretensions to such territory would be alone yielderl, and 
not the territory itself, as that would then be ascertained never to have belonged to 
us ; but when as in this case, our Government or its arbitrator should instead of 
determining the direction of the disputed line make a compromise which should 
either yield what belonged to us, or give us what belonged to another, the right to 
yield cr thus to acquire territory and population may well be questioned. If the 
arbitrator had decided that Mars Hill was the highland referred to, the power of 
the Government to acquiesce could not, I conceive, have been questioned ; but when 
lie throws out of view the natural objects referred to in the Treaty of 1783, and 
takes upon himself to establish a new line never contemplated by either of the par- 
ties, we so manifestly acquire a territory that we have no right to, or abandon that 
which does belong to us, that our power to do so must be well ascertained. I con- 
ceive that this is a case very different from that of the United States purchasing 
with the national funds adjacent territory, or yielding a portion of the national do- 
main in compromise, or for any other consideration. At all events, unless Maine 
fully acquiesces, the most prudent and safe course, I believe, for the administration 
will be — provided it is quite clear that we can do so consistently with national faith — 
to disavow the decision and immediately offer to leave it to some other power — 
Louis Philippe if you please. It becomes this administration to be constitutional 
and wholly American on this occasion, which is a very trying one. In the present 
temper and situation of England, there can be no fear of her taking high ground: 
and the only necessity will be for a demonstration of force on that frontier, as well 
to repress the attempt of the people of New Brunswick from asserting the rights 
they may believe they have acquired under this decision, as to prevent the people 
of Maine from taking the law in their own hands. 

'' Yours truly, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

" New Yokk, March 22, 1831. 
" My Deae Sir : Your letter by Mr. Vail was received yesterday. I will observe 
all the caution you cnn desire in regard to the communication to which you refer. 
The matter stands well as it is. I apprehend that the gentleman (Mr. Gallatin) 
whose conversation I have merely referred to is not perfectly well disposed ; which 
I much regret because his good disposition on a delicate and difficult foreign mat- 
ter is quite important. I should think you must treat him in his own way. lie 
has two sons, both well educated and particularly well suited to le Secretaries of 
Legation. The father's long services, too, entitle them to your consideration, and 



200 llEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

thus the whole matter Avould be at rest. He suggested ia a conversation I had 
with him yesterday morning, before, Vail saw him, that the loss of territory was 
nothing, as the United States might give twice the quantity of better lands in the 
Western country— that the only point for Maine would be the loss of sovereignty 
over that territory; that Massachusetts would be gnitified— that Maine was shorn 
of half her extent. I am gratified that you have time to consider well of this matter, 
Preble's return might be useful. If Maine Avould be willing to acquiesce, the affirm- 
ative would be the best course. If she does not, there is nothing to be done, as 
I verily believe, but to consider the decision as not having been made. 

" Yours, &c., &c. 

<i p. S.— I have since writing the above, had an interview with Rhiiid. He is in 
a better temper than when I before saw him. The horses ought to be sold imme- 
diately and subject to the charges incurred ; indeed, I do not know how they can 
be sold otherwise." 

William C. Kives, Minister to France, to James A. Hamilton. 

(Received, May 13, 1831.) / 

" Paris, Mar>'h 24, 1831.^ 
"My Dear Sir: * * * * 'Whon I had the pleasure of receiving your very 
valuable letter, through Mr. Tliorn, last summer, I begged him to acknowledge the 
receipt of it for me, and to bear witness to you of the manner in which my time was 
absorbed here as some justification of my want of epistolary punctuality, intending 
always to seize the earliest moment of leisure to ofter you my acknowledgments 
under my own hand. So it is, however, that this Avislied-for leisure has retreated 
before me as I have advanced, like the horizon, and I now find myself as far from it 
as ever. I must beg you therefore to accept this huri'ied scrawl as all that circum- 
stances will yet permit me to offer you. It is impossible to give you any adequate 
idea of the disagreeable and vexatious character of my negotiations with this govern- 
ment for the claims ; so mucli reluctance to enter upon the subject, so many means 
of evasion, so many expedients of delay, so many complications by the introduction 
of other questions, and the exhibition of counter-claims, could be overcome or coun- 
teracted only by the most incessant dunning, and often after arguments addressed to 
the'r apprehensions. These obstacles I have experienced in fully as great a degree, if 
not greater, with the present government as with the last ; and, indeed, their alarm- 
ing financial condition gives some color of palliation at least to their conduct. You 
are aware that the subject was referred to a Commission of six members, my com- 
munications with whom, in the hope of getting from them as favorable a report as 
possible (though unofficial), brought upon my hands, necessarily, seven Ministers 
of foreign afl'aiis to deal with instead of one. Their report, I flatter myself, will 
now be very soon made, and the only responsible negotiation will then commence with 
the Minister of foreign affairs. The Pteport, though less unfavorable than it might 
liave been, will be yet very far short of our demands. My task with the Minister, 
therefore, will be an up-hill business ; but I shall do all that zeal and perseverance 
can accomplish. Tiie aftair, it is now well understood, can terminate only by a 
transaction. In this state of things it would have been very desirable to have had 
some indication of an amount for which the claimants would be willing to compromise. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON, 201 

I have, however, had none other than that which you lundly gave me in your letter 
— to wit : six millions of dclhir?, if we can— five millions, if we must. I should be 
very glad to know if you still think the claimants would be satisfied with this adjust- 
ment. The visionary and unfounded hopes that were at first inspired by the change 
of government, I take it for granted, have long ago given way to the evidence that 
is constantly reaching you of the overwhehning financial embarrassments of this 
country, and of the consequent reluctance that is felt to assume any new charge. 
Let not any one be Utopian enough to suppose that anything will be conceded to 
favor for the United States, or to imaginary political sympathies, which is not 
extorted by inevitable necessity. I have the best grounds for saying, that with a 
little time more I should have made a more advantageous arrangement with the last 
government, as great as the difiiculties wire that I had to contend wnth, than I can 
make with the present. I have no time for political speculations, for which, indeed, 
the materials afforded by the journals are so abundant, that your ow^n sagacity and 
judfiment will conduct you to sound conclusions without any aid from me. It is 
evident that the state of this country, as well as of Europe generally, is unsettled 
.ind quasi revolutionary at least. If I shall- ever get rid of this horrible subject of 
the claims, I sliall then have more time for writing to my friends, among whom I 
shall be particularly ambitious, by my punctuality at least, to merit the favor of your 
correspondence. In the mean time, I beg you to let me hear from you ; and praying 
to be recalled together with Mrs. Rives (who desires her best respects to yourself 
also) to the kind remembrance of Mrs. Hamilton, 

" I remain, very truly your friend, &c. 
" P. S.— Though it has been found impossible, I learn, to unite the whole of the 
claimants in any formal authority lo the Government to compromise for a round 
sum, yet if any number of the leading claimants, either in meeting or individually, 
would say what sum would be admissible in their opinion as a minimuvi, making 
that as low as possible, it might be the means of protecting the Government here- 
after against unfounded and capricious complaints. Suppose you confer wiih some 
of them in New York and get the opinions of as many of them as you can — the 
more formally expressed the better." 

NEGOTIATION WITH THE SUBLIME PORTE. 

The negotiation commenced by John Q. Adams when President, as before 
stated, resulted in a treaty with the Sullime Porte, who, when it was concluded, 
presented to Mr. Charles Rhind, one of the commissioners, Four Arah'an Horses: 
which he brought to New York, and, to the great annoyance of General Jackson, 
claimed to have a right to them. ; The following papers will explain that sub- 
ject : 

By John Q. Adams, when the Papers were delivered by me to the 

Writer. 

" These papers are left unsealed for Mr. Hamilton's perusal. As it is important to 
the secrecy desired by the President and Secretary, that the direction even should 
not be seen by any but those privy to the business, the whole is put in an envelope 
addressed to Mr. H." 



202 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Memorandum. The above is a copy of a short memorandum which accom- 
panied a letter to J. IJiddle, and copies of Spanish and French treaties with the 
Porte, and the instructions to Captain James Biddle, David Offley, and Charles 
Rhind, Esquires, to negotiate a treaty with the Sultan. They are appointed 
Commissioners. The Treaty is expressly confined to peace and commerce. 
They are expressly directed not to make a treaty which will interfere with our 
relations with other powers, and particularly our neutral character. They may 
make a treaty subjecting our trade to a duty of 5 ^c, but which by other arrange- 
ments only amounts to SJ '^L The French are admitted at a duty of 3 ^ for 
exports and imports. A secret article to be negotiated, by which we are to be 
admitted on the principle of the most favored nations after the expiration of 
the treaty with France, which will take place in one year. Allusion is made 
to the manner of treatinn; with the Porte, which is different from that of treat- 
inf with other nations. Allusion is made to presents being given, and it is sanc- 
tioned — authority being given to Biddle to draw on the Grovernment for funds. 

I wrote to Van Buren pointing out to him that the instructions spoke of 
the Sublime Porte sometimes as a thing, and in the singular number ; and some- 
times as a i^crson, and sometimes as persons, and submitted to him whether it 
would not be better to pursue the phraseology first referred to — Tlie Sublime 
Porte. I think from the expressions used in the treaty with France, they 
referred to the place of residence of the government court and the Port of Con- 
stantinople. 

Charles Rhind to Tue Hon. Martin Van Buren. 

" New York, April 2_, 1831. 

" Sir: I liave the lionor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the SOtli 
ultimo, in which you state ' that the President is anxious to close the affair of the 
liorse?, so far as he has any agency in the matter, as soon as that can with propriety 
and .safety to otlier intercuts he done.' 

"On that subject I shall only remark, that when I addressed you my letter of 
the 10th of December last, I indulged a hope that Congress would have acted a just 
and generous part, in return for my services and sacrifices, and if Government could 
show a legal claim to the horses, that at least funds would have been provided nnd 
arrangements made for a present in return, such as would become the dignity of tiie 
United Stutes. 

" You are aware of what has been done on both those occasions. 

" Legal advice of the highest authority (sanctioned by the opinion of distin- 
guished members of Congress) declares that Government has no claim whatever 
on the horses, and the matter must consequently take its course. 

"The ^ other interests'' to which I presume you allude, are the insults offered 
myself, and the reflections thrown upon our country by the conduct of my colleagues 
during their short stay at Constantinople ; this certainly must be acted upon before 
I could present myself to the Porte. The insults and abuse offered to me personally, 
the meanness of their conduct which rendered our nation contemptible in the eyes 
of the Turkish Ministers, and the gross indignity they offered to the Keis Effendi, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 203 

require, I think, at least an expression of the opinion entertained bj the President ; 
and to speak candiJly, I expected this before now. 

" A perusal of the documents in your possession will show the imperious neces- 
sity of deciding upon this subject. 

" The President, I am sure, would neither wish nor expect me to present myself 
at Constantinople as an insulted and degraded representative of the United States ; 
little, indeed, would be my influence if I were thus to appear without some expres- 
sion of the Executive on the occasion. 

" This subject is of more importance to the dignity of the United States than to 
me personally, and I am glad you have not lost sight of it. 

" My detention at Washington has been a serious injury to me, and nnfortunately 
I have been unwell since my return. I have every reason in the world to urge my 
departure ; but with all my efforts I doubt whether I shall be able to leave this before 
the first week in May. I shall endeavor to procure a fast-sailing vessel in order to gain 
my destination as speedily as possible ; it will probably be about the 25th instant 
before I reach "Washington. 

" That there will be great difficulty in obtaining a ratification of the Treaty by 
the Porte, is very cei'tain. 

" It will require the utmost management ; and additional funds, I fear, will also be 
necessary to overcome the surreptitious attempts which will be made against us. 

" With your money affairs I will have nothing to do, but personally will render 
all the assistance I can. I beg you to assure the President that I will afford every 
aid in my power to accomplish this end ; but I confess I have great dread our 
antagonists will have been actively engaged, and they have too many unpleascmt 
facts to use on the occasion. 

" I have written to Mr. Navoni, urging his utmost vigilance — ^my sole reliance is 
on his keeping the intriguants at lay until I arrive ; he will announce to the Min- 
isters (and our x>ersonal friends) that I am on the way, and this, I think, will keep 
them quiescent. With great respect, I have the honor to be, sir, 

" Your obedient servant." 

Andrew Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, April 6, 1831. 

" Dear Sir : Mr. Van Buren has shown me a letter from Mr. Rhind whicii gives 
me much pain. I respect and esteem him, and should be sorry to find that he could be 
induced by the injustice which he thinks has been done to him to take ground now 
which would not only embarrass the service, in the final success of which his fame 
is so deeply interested, but seem also to give countenance to the imputations and 
acts of which he complains. It is my wish, therefore, that you should see him and 
have a frank and informal conversation with him on the subject matter, and I can- 
not but hope that he will upon further refiection be induced to abandon the ground 
he has taken in the letter referred to. When he left here, we understood that the 
only question w^as whether the horses would be sold before or after lie left the 
country, and in consequence of his thinking it best to defer it to the latter period, 
that course was concluded upon, and the matter would not have been further acted 
upon now, but for the opinion expressed, that Mr. Rhind had changed his views in 
that regard. By the inclosed letter of Mr. Rhind's which was communicated to 



204 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Congress, you will see tLe attitude in wLicli lie avouIcI be placed, if he were now to 
raise an objection to the sale, and how insufficient would be the ground derived 
from the expectation which he says he indulged, but which were not then made a 
condition. 

"The subject of the unfortunate difficulties between Mr. Rhind and the other 
commissioners was not alluded to by Mr. Van Buren in his letter, but it was to the 
ratification of the Treaty he referred. I have explained myself frequently to Mr. 
Rhind upon this subject, and inf mned him that, at least until the Treaty is finahy 
disposed of, I would not think it proper to take any steps in that respect, and iu the 
propriety of that cour.-^e I thought Mr. Rhind concurred. Mr. Rhiad knows the 
amount of funds which ha\e been appropriated, and that I have no power to add 
to them. Our wish is that Mr. Rhind should take all the papers for Commodore 
Porter at as early a period as possible, with authority, if any accident or other cause 
should prevent Commodore Porter from accepting the office and discharging the 
duty of effecting an exchange of the ratification, that then that duty should be 
discharged by Mr. Rhind himself. It is all important that we should know definitely 
what we may depend upon in that respect, as the time is running away. If Mr. 
Rhind, with a knowledge of all the circumstances, is either unwilling or feels himself 
incaiable of doing what we desire and expect from him, I hope he will let us know 
definitely, so that we may immediately dispatch a special messenger to Commodore 
Porter. The necessity of adopting this latter course would cause me much regret, as 
I am anxious that he should have the cred'.t of rss' sting in concluding the burliness. 
But we must run no risk that can be avoided. If even the true state of Mr. Rliind's 
health is such as to render it uncertain whether he can go on, I should prefer to 
send a special messenger immediately, and take the chance of Mr. Rhind coming 
on in season to afl'ord his country the benefit of his assistance. I prefer to send you 
this private and unofficial letter, to be seen by Mr. Rhind only, instead of a formal 
and official correspondence. I consider Mr. Rhind's future course in this business 
as a matter of public, as well as private, importance, and I want you to see ^nd con- 
verse fully, freely, and friendly with him. He kuOws our disposition toward him, 
and I cannot but flatter myself that however much he may feel aggrieved by the 
acts of others, he will not on that account omit to do anything in his power by 
which the public interest will be promoted — he is, I am sure, too public-spirited for 
that. Mr. Rhind will show you his letter to the Secretary of State, which will 
enable you to understand this letter. Make my best respects to Mr. Rhind, and let 
me hear from you as soon as possible, as I feel much anxiety on this subject. 

"Please tender to your amiable lady and family, my kind salutations, and believe 
me your friend." 

J.uiES A. Hamilton to Pkesident Jackson. 

"New YoKK, April 9, 1831. 
" Dear Sir : I had the jdeasurc this day to receive your letter of the 6th instant, 
and I immediately called upon Ih: Rhind whom I found obstinately bent upon insist- 
ing upon a claim to the horses. He showed me the letter of the 2d instant written 
by him and referred to by you. I pointed out to him the folly and indecorum of 
such a letter, and he consented to withdraw it, to which end he immediately wrote 
a letter to Mr. Van Buren which I inclosed to-day. He informed me that the horses 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 205 

were advertised for sale by the Consignees (tlie sale to be made in the first week in 
May). I endeavored to induce him not to make the sale, and urged every considera- 
tion as well of a legal as of a personal character to himself that I could think of, 
but in vain ; he insisted that he had legal advice that he had been ill used by Con- 
gress, and that his letter was written under the belief that justice would have been 
done to him. I refuted these positions without difficulty, but without producing a 
change in his determination. Under these circumstances I think it w^ould be well 
to send to me authority to the Marshal to sell the hordes, wliich I will not use unless 
it should be necessary— that is to say, unless he should persist in making the sale— 
when it may be done by the Marshal at the same time it is now advertised to be 
done by the Consignee, and thus mny be avoided the appeanmce of any controversy 
between Mr. Rhind and the government. I endeavored to induce him to postpone 
the sale until after his departure, but equally without success. I regret to add that 
I found Mr. Ehind (either from passion (.r avarice) wholly insensible to these jcon- 
siderations of delicacy which ought to have been paramount. He will sail from the 
first to the fifteenth of May, in a vessel bound directly for Constantinople, if it be 
possible. In the course of our conversation, referring to the possibility of his not 
getting there in time to aid Porter, I intimated, in order to try him, that it might then 
be necessary for Porter to call Offiey to his aid, and I found that this produced much 
uneasiness. Before this, he assented to the propriety of sending a messenger in 
advance to Porter, but afterward insisted that that would be unnecessary as he 
would be at Constantinople as soon as they would be there. He acceded to the 
propriety of your suggestions in relation to tliat part of his letter which refers to an 
expression of your opinion in relation to his colleagues. Inasmuch as his conduct 
in relation to the horses may be such as ultimately to preclude his being employed, 
I think it would be well to send Mr. Hodgson forthwith to Porter with the Treaty, 
&c., with instructions to the latter to go to the mouth of the Dardanelles to remain 
there until a given day. Such an arrangement will, I think, be a proper precaution- 
ary measure, and will have the effect of satisfying Mr. Rhind who, I believe, antici- 
pates much pleasure, if not profit, in returning to Constantinople with the Treaty. 
I will see him again to-morrow, and write to you again, should any thing further 
of interest occur. "With the truest attachment, your friend, &c." 



Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" April 6, 1831. 

" My Dear Sir : The inclosed, with the letter written by Mr. Ehind to me, will 
explain what is wanted of you. I was quite satisfied by Mr. Rhind's remarks before 
he left here, that it w^ould be advisable to defer the sale of the horses until after he 
was gone, for fear of the circumstance being used to our disadvantage. The remind- 
er that the Sultan is inclined to avail himself of the Emperor's present embarrass- 
ment to shake oflF the onerous obligation of the Treaty of Adrianople, gives increased 
interest to the whole subject, and makes us the more deeply deplore the course 
which Mr. Rhind seems inclined to take. He snys he will have uotliing to do with 
the money matters. If it would be perfectly agreeable to him, we could send Mr. 
Hodgson with him to guard against the accidents of death or sickness, or he might 
go on before and get Porter in readiness ; but I should like very much to have Mr. 



20G EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Rhind tliere when they first arrive. Have the goodness to devote your early and 
undivided attention to tlii^ matter, and let me hear from you as soon as possible. 

" Yours truly. 
"P. S. — I hope Mr. Illiind will see fit to withdraw his letter. I send you con- 
Jideniialhj a copy of it; hut you will still ask him to see the original." 

M. Vax Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"April 6, 1831. 

"My Deae Sir: Could not Mr, Riker be of use to you in bringing Mr. Rhind to 
a sense of what is pro[)er, and save him from the consequences which will flow from 
his course ? ITe cannot, certainly, have reflected upon the consequences which may 
grow out of it." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

" New York, April 9, 1831. 

"My Dear Sir: I do not repeat to you what I have said in reply to the Presi- 
dent, as I presume you will see that letter. I find Rhind is disposed to behave 
shabbily on this occasion. He may liave the poor apothecary's excuse : 'His neces- 
sity and not his will consents.' In my conversation, which was conciliatory but 
quite frank, I found I could not create the slightest solicitude in relation to his 
character. He utterly denied that lie had concurred in the propriety of deferring 
the sale until after his departure, although I stated to him the President's assertion 
that it was s-o. Indeed, your statement is that he gave satisfactory reasons for such 
a course. Adieu. Your sincere friend, &c." 

Andrew Jackson to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, April 12, 1831. 

"My Dear Sir': The John Adams will sail in a ^Qvf days from Norfolk for the 
Mediterranean, and I have determined to guard against accidents by sending Mr. 
Ilodgson with the papers to Commodore Porter with instructions to the Commander 
to take the Commodore to Constantinople. If Mr. Rhind gets off by the time he 
contemplates, he will probably reach there as soon as the John Adams which may 
be detained here a week and possibly two, although I hope not. In my view of the 
matter, this is, I think, the best arrangement that can be made. 

" I am greatly mortified that any difllculty is made about the horses. I have 
directed an authority to the Marshal to sell the interest of the United States in them, 
to be made out and sent to you. Before that is done, I should like, in the absence 
of the Attorney General, to have your opinion as to the course to be pursued in this 
delicate affair. 

"Is it possible that Mr. Rhind can be insensible or indifferent to the ungenerous 
effect which this matter is calculated to have upon his standing in regard to the 
whole affair, and what a weapon he will put into the hands of his enemies?" 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

«AprU13, 1831. 
"_My Dear Sib: It has occurred to me that you might interpret the President's 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 207 

request for your opiniou in relation to the horses, into a wish that you should give 
it in person, aud I write you to inform you that such was not the case. The reason 
of my doing so you will better understand hereafter. I am preparing the authority 
for the Marshal, &c., and will send it on without waiting for your opinion. The 
President's request for it was upon my suggestion, and if from the press of business 
or any other cause it is at this moment inconvenient to you, it will do no harm to 
omit it. The design expressed in your letter to the President appears to be well cal- 
culated to avoid discreditable publicity to the unfortunate dispute. But I hope you 
will have been able to change Mr. Rhind's views bef»re this time, or that you will 
succeed in doing so hereafter. In haste, yours truly." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton, Esq., Attorney U. S. for 

Southern District of New York. 

"Department of State, "Washington, April 14, 1831, 

"Sir: Herewith you will receive, under a flying seal, a letter to Mr. Morris, 
Marshal of the United States at New York, directing him to receive from the per- 
sons having possession of them at present, the four Arabian horses presented by the 
Grand Sultan to Mr. Rliind, one of the late Commissioners of the United States, for 
negotiating a treaty with the Sublime Porte, and to dispose of the said horses, as the 
property of the United States, at public sale. You will receive, likewise, a Congres- 
sional document of the last Session, containing Mr. Rbinil's letter to the President, 
the President's Message to both Houses of Congress, and the Report of the Com- 
mittee of Foreign Relations of the House of Representatives, upon the subject of 
these horses. Mr. Rhind, by the letter referred to, having expressed a willingness 
as regards himself, to transfer to the United States any right, title, or interest which 
he might have to or in the horses in question, if it should be required of him to do 
so, and intimated that the other parties concerned would be satisfied with a full 
reimbursement of the expenses incurred in relation to them, including indemnity for 
all other charges incident to the said horses, the Marshal hiisbeen entrusted with this 
commission ; and he is particularly referred to you for your counsel and assistance in 
reference to the execution of it. I must beg you, therefore, to give him all the aid 
and advice which may occur to you as proper and useful on the occasion. He will 
have to depend on your good offices, in the first instance, fur getting the horses into 
his custody (and we shall reply upon the discreet interposition of them to that end), 
and afterward upon your advice as to the time and place of the auction, and other 
details. As far as these can be made conveniently subservient to the object of pro- 
ducing a general and fair competition of bidders, they should be determined upon 
with that view. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant." 

James A, Hamilton to President Jackson. 

"New York, April 17, 1S31. 
"Dear Sir: I had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 12th instant on the 
16th instant, and in compliance with your request I immediately prepared an 
opinion on the case referred to, which would have been forwarded to you by the 
mail of yesterday but is withheld in consequence of a letter I received from Mr. 
Van Buren. I will only now remark that the right of the Government is perfectly 



208 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

clear, nnd tlie course to be pursued in order to as?ert it, that which you have con- 
templated. I take the liberty merely to add, that it would be advisable to authorize 
some person here to call upon Mr. Rliind for the release proffered in his letter of the 
10th December last. I had a very long conversation with him to-day, in which I 
endeavored to satisfy him that he had no legal right wliatever; that he wa-^ bound 
by regard to his own character not to set u[) a pretension so contrary to his letter; 
and, above all, that he owed a duty to you and Mr. Van Buren which commanded 
him to pursue a very different course. I am confirmed, by what passed in this con- 
versation, in the opinion I before expressed, that he looks forward with solicitude 
(in consequence of some commercial speculation) to being at Constantmople, when 
Porter arrives there. I did not think proper to make known to him your deter- 
mination." 

Opiniox of James A. Hamilton, District Attorney of the United States for 
the Southern District of New York, in the case of the horses presented by 
the Ottoman Porte to Mr. Charles Pthiud, Agent of the United States at 
Constantinople : 

Case. 

" Mr. Charles Rhind, Consul of the United States for the Port of Odessa, was 
duly appointed, together with Messrs. Biddle and Oflley, an Agent, with full powers 
to neirotiate a Treaty of Commerce with the Snlian of the Ottoman Empire. 

" Pursuant to his instructions, he proceeded to Constantinople, where he nego- 
tiated, concluded, and signed, a Treaty with the Porte, on the day of ■ 

1830. He thence went to Odessa, appointed a Vice-Consul, returned to Constan- 
tinople, when, on the 30th August, the Sultan presented four (4) horses to him, 
which he accepted because, as he says, 'the gift was one that could not be I'eturned 
without offence,' and to refuse it would be attended with injury to the interests of 
the United States. Mr. Rhind immediately had the horses appraised by competent 
judges on the spot, and took them wiih him to Smyrna, he being on his way to the 
United States. In a letter to the Pre-ident, dated tlie 10th December, 1830, Mr. 
Rhind, after reciting the manner in which the present was made to him, adds: 
'Having no funds of the United States or the means of raising them, to pay for their 
expenses and passage to America, I shipped them as a commercial adventure in the 
name and for the account of the owners of the vessel in Avhicli they came. The 
horses were consequently in their possession ; but if the United States have a claim for 
the value, I presume these gentlemen will pay it over should they sell for more than 
the expenses attending them which, of course, are very considerable. So far as 
regards myself, I am ready to transfer to the United States any right, title, or in- 
terest I may have in them, should it be required.' 

"Mr. Rhirid arrived in the United States in November, ,1830, with the Treaty, 
and has been paid for his services as such agent at the rate of four thousand five 
hundred dollars a year, up to a period subsequent to the date of the gift of the 
horses. 

" The Treaty has been ratified by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
and sent to Constantinople to be exchanged. 

"Tlie rule established by the 9th Section of the 1st Article of the Constitution, 
that ' No person holding any ofiice of profit or trust under them (the United Stales), 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 209 

shall, Avitlioufc the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or 
title of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or Foreign State,' when applied 
to the facts above stated, make the case so clear as to he beyond the reach of doubt 
or cavil. 

" 1. Mr. Rhind, at the time of the gift, held the office of Consul. lie had been 
duly commissioned, had atforded the security required by the Act of Congress. 
He had entered upon his duties, had appointed a Yice-Consul who was acting for 
him at the time the gift was made, and who, under the power so delegated to him by 
Mr. Ehiad, asked through the Secretary of Legation, Mr. Clay at St. Petersburg, for 
an Exequatur from the Emperor of Eussia. Mr. Rhind had not resigned, nor was he 
removed from his office of Consul, aud although appointed in the recess of the Senate, 
his nomination, it is understood, had subsequently been confirmed by the Senate. 
He was, therefore, clearly at the time the gift was made, holding this office of trust 
within the meaning of the Constitution. 

"2. Mr. Rhind had been commissioned by the President with all formality as a 
Commissioner to treat with the Porte; he had been received, had performed that 
service, and was still within the Turkish Dominions, although about to return to the 
United States. He was, therefore, accordiog to the laws of Nations, still a diplomatic 
functionary of the United States, and as such entitled to all the rights, privileges, and 
immunities of that station. There is no ditference in this respect between a Minister, 
or Agent, with full powers to ti-eat of all matters, and one with limited or specific 
powers, between an Ambassador or a pi-ivate Diplomatic Agent (after the latter has 
been received by the power to which he is accredited) ; each maintains a distinct 
Diplomatic relation with the Government to ■which he is sent, until after he leaves 
the Territory of the Foreign State. Each continues until that event the represent- 
ative of the Foreign power, and as such must be respected and treated. From these 
general principles, it necessarily results that Mr. Rhind, notwithstanding he had 
signed the Treaty, continued, according to the laws of Nations, to hold the office to 
which he had been appointed at the time the gift was made. But as to the rule 
referred to under our Constitution, the case is much stronger. The intention of 
that restrictive provision was to place persons holding offices beyond the influence 
(either through appeals to their avarice or ranity')^ of foreign Nations; and to give 
this intention full effects. The person to whom gifts are offered must be considered 
as in office as long as it is possible to suppose that the present may be induced by 
any act done by him while in office. It must be understood to mean, in the case 
of Diplomatic Agents, that they never can accept a present or title from a foreign 
State to which they ever were accredited. Any other rule would, as the House of 
Representative say, ' tend to the establishment of a precedent by which the guard of 
the Constitution against the acceptance of presents by our agents abroad would be 
weakened, and perhaps eventually broken down.' If it is admitted, as it is assumed 
in this case by Mr. Rhind, that as soon as the special object of the mission was 
accomplished, the Agent ceased to hold an office, and therefore ceased to be within 
the rule referred to, how ineffectual and absurd would be such a restriction ; it 
would wholly fail to reach the evil it was intended to prevent; for if a Diplomatic 
functionary was to be bribed, the price of his faithlessness never would be paid until 
after he signed the Treaty, and thus accomplished his work. This view of the sub- 
ject is too plain to require illustration. < 
14 



/ 



210 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"The question presented by the facts is one between Mr. Rhind and his own 

Government, and how does it stand according to Mr. Ehind's own acts and admissions? 

" 1. He received his salary as Agent, for a period subsequent to the time the gift 

wasmade— thus admitting in the most authentic manner that he was then holding 

an office of trust or profit from the United States. 

" 2. He says in his letter already referred to : 'Although this ( the sending the 
horses to him) was evidently not intended as a present to me in my official capacity, 
since the Ministers were aware that I could not receive them as such ;' thus admit- 
ting that he was at the time the gift was made in an official capacity and that he had 
informed the Turkish Minister (on that occasion, that is to say, when the horses were 
sent) that he was forbidden by the laws of his country to receive a present; he then 
being an officer of the United States, it must be assumed that he informed the Min- 
isters on that occasion of that rule of our Government, in order to avoid the humil- 
iating idea that, uncalled for by any circumstance, he had prompted the oiftr of a 
present by a voluntary conversation on that subject. 

" 3, He says he had them ' immediately appraised on tlie spot.' To what end 
was such an appraisement made? "Why, clearly because he considered the horses, 
when accepted for the reasons he gave, as belonging to the United States; and as he 
intended to ship them as a commercial adventiire for account of the owners of the 
vessel in whicli they came, and in part payment of the individual credit he had re- 
ceived from them, that he might pay the appraised value to the United States. This 
could be the sole object of that appraisement; additional force is given to this idea 
when it is remarked that this statement of the horses having been appraised is made 
in connection with another, to wit: that ' I was consequently olliged to talce tlicm and 
relinquish the purchase of those I had selected.^ 

"4. Mr. Rhind, in the same letter, not only assures the Government that in his 
■opinion the consignees of the horses will pay to the Government the value of the 
horses over the expenses, but that so far as regards himself he is ready to transfer to 
the United States any right, title, or interest he may have in them, should it be re- 
quired. Thus placing the whole subject within the control of the Government with- 
out condition or qualification. 

" From these considerations it is quite clear that Mr. Rhind or the consignees of 
the horses can have no claim to them beyond the expenses incident to their trans- 
portation and keeping ; and it is equally clear that when they were accepted, as the 
Agent could not take them for himself, he must have accepted them for the United 
States and as their Agent or Trustee, and as such he now holds them, 

" Under these circumstances the United States may pay the expenses to which I 
have referred, and take the horses to be disposed of when and as they see fit ; or 
they may sell them subject to those expenses or they may permit them to be sold by 
the consignees and call upon them for the surplus proceeds of such sale over and 
above the expenses. 

"In this view of the whole matter, perhaps the best course for the President 
would be to authorize the Marshal of the United States or some other person in New 
York to make a sale of the horses, or to cooperate with the consignees in making 
such sale ; with directions, if the horses sell for more tlian the amount of the expenses, 
(to be settled as though the transaction was betw-een Mr. Rhind and the consignees), 
to demand that amount from the consignees, und if tliey refuse to pay it over to the 
United States, to commence a suit for the recovery of the same, with instructions, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 211 

however, on behalf of the Government first to require Mr. Rhind, in pursuance of 
the offer contained in his letter, to transfer to the United States all his right, title, and 
interest in the horses. 

" James A. Hamiltox. 
"New York, April 16, 1831." 

James A. Hamilton to the Honorable John Forsyth. 

"New Yoek, April 18, 1S31. 

"Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of the 4th ultimo, on the 13th of that month 
I addressed a letter to you at Milledgeville not knowing that you had changed your 
place of residence. Do me the favor to inform me -whether you have received it or 
not. I have the pleasure to acknowledge your favor of the 23d ultimo, and to thank 
you for your attention in sending me the newspaper it covered. Do me the favor to 
recall me to the recollection of Mrs. Forsyth and the other members of your family. 
" I have the honor to be, with great respects, yours, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton, Attorney U. S. for the Southern 

District of New York. 

"Sir: According to the couchuling paragraph in the letter from Mr. Charles 
Rhind, one of the late Commissioners of the United States, for concluding a Treaty 
with the Sublime Porte, to the President, dated the 10th of December, 1830, a 
printed copy of which letter is herewith transmitted to you, in relation to the four 
Arabian horses whie-h were presented to him, Mr. Rhind, by the Grand Sultan, it is 
distinctly understood, that he would be ready to transfer to the United States any 
right, title, or interest Avhich he had to or in those horses, 'should it be required.' I 
am directed by the President, therefore, to ask the favor of you, as I accordingly do, 
to require Mr. Rhind, in his name, to transfer to the United States aU the interest 
which he has in the said horses, and to deliver them to such person as you may 
authorize to receive them. 

" The President relies upon your prudence and discretion for a satisfactory exe- 
cution of this commission, and I I'emain, Sir, respectfully, your obedient servant. 

"April 23d, 1831." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

" New York, April 23, 1831. 

" Dear Sir : For two or three days past I have been negotiating with Mr. Rhind 
and his counsel without success. Tbey persisted in their legal rights, and refused to 
permit the horses to go into the Marshal's possession under these circumstances, as 
the Marshal's instructions are ' to receive possession.' I have thought it best for him 
to call upon the persons who have the horses in possession, to require their delivery, 
and in the event of their refusal to deliver them, to report that fact to the Govern- 
ment and await instructions ; if it is deemed important to go further, perhajjs all the 
President can now do will be to instruct the Marshal or District Attorney in behalf 
of the Government, to give notice to the Messrs. Ilowland's not to pay over the pro- 
ceeds, in order that a suit may be instituted to settle the question and obtain the 
proceeds after paying the expenses. Yours, &c." 



212 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Andrew Jacksox to Col. James A. Hamilton, 

" WAsniNGTON, April 23, 1831. 

"Dear Sir: I have directed instructions to be given to you to require from Mr. 
Ebind the release of the Arabian liorses proifered in bis letter of the 10th of De- 
cember last. I cannot permit myself to doubt bis compliance vinth tbis request. I 
feel for Mr. Rliind's welfare, and shall always be disposed to do justice to the zeal 
he has manifested in the public service ; but it is due to candor, as well as to himself, 
that he should know that, if he should prove capable of refusing to comply with the 
promise be has made iu tbis respect, and which has been formally communicated to 
Congress and the nation, no confidence between him and the Government will, for 
tbe future, be advisable. I will thank you to communicate this to him in the most 
kind manner in which it is dictated. I would deeply regret that his public services 
should wind up in this untoward manner; but the credit and character of the public 
peace must go before all personal consider^jlions. 

" I am, very respectfully, your friend." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

"New York, April 21, 1831— 9 J p.m. 

" My Dear Sir : Campbell and John have called upon me, the former in extreme 
agitation, to ascertain from me the truth of a report too strange to be true, and yet 
too well vouched to be disbelieved, to wit : ' That you have resigned.' I confess to 
you that I was mortified as well as grieved. Mortified that you should have taken 
such a step and left me to learn it in the streets, and deeply grieved that any thing 
should have occurred to render such a measure necessary. I cannot conjecture a 
state of things to justify you iu withdrawing your services from our friend, particu- 
larly at this juncture. I am bound, however, to believe that you will be enabled to 
justify your course to your friends and to the public, and that that justification will 
not be inconsistent with the just respect and confidence which both have entertained 
for the President. In the wbole course of my life I never felt such intense anxiety 
as I do at this moment. Tbe wbole has come upon me like a visitation from above, 
and I am consequently utterly at a loss to account for so strange a change. Adieu. 

" Your most anxious friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to "William B. Lewis. 

"New York, April 21, 1831—10 o'clock p.m. 
"Mt Dear Lewis : What does all tbis mean ? Van Buren resigned and Eaton 
resigned, and I am left by you and by all in entire ignorance of the fact and of the 
causes which have led to such important changes. I will not permit myself to con- 
jecture or to form opinions as to whether snch a measure was called for or not, but 
I will merely say, changing the language of Lord Kenyon in a single word, ' When I 
desert my President, may God desert me.' I have been asked tbis morning by a 
great many wbat all this means, and have been compelled to say I am wholly igno- 
rant of wbat I think I may say, without arrogating too much to myself, I had a right 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 213 

to be informed about as soon as almost any other person in this city. Adieu. I 
retire anxiously waiting for the developments of the morning. 

"Your sincere friend, &c." 



Martin Van Bdren to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, April 25, 1831. 

" My Dear Sir : I am anxious to hear what you think of the late movements 
here, as I have great conlidence in the soundness of your judgment in such matters. 
I presume Mr. Ludlow has explained to you why I thought it best, as I could not 
confer with my friends, to write to no one on the subject. I was once or twice on 
the point of mentioning it in one of my letters, but, for reasons which you will appre- 
ciate, concluded it was best to leave all my friends in New York in the same situation . 

" I see by a note from Cambreling that he is under great alarm. He had seen a 
note I wrote to Mr. Butler, apprizing him of wliat was to take place, and which was 
intended to prepare our friends at Albany, when the Legislature was in session, for 
the event. Yours truly, &c." 

" P. S. — Our accounts from every quarter are favorable to the movement. I 
never felt less embarrassed as to my own course than I did in this." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. (Private.) 

" Washington, April 25, 1831. 

" My Dear Sir : Since writing you to-day I have received yours of the 23d. 
You have before this received mine, inclosing authority to demand the Assignment 
from Rhind, accompanied by the President's private letter. I cannot but hope that 
that will bring him to his senses. If it does not, let me know in a private letter 
whether special directions to give tlie notice to the Ilowlands is necessary, or 
Avhethcr that is not included in the general instructions you have received to give 
all necessary counsel, &c. I was mortified to hear nothing from you upon the sub- 
ject of recent events here, as I expected you would sit down immediately and give 
me your views npon the matter ; but for the first moment I am apprehensive that 
you are dissatisfied with me for not apprizing you of it, and I am sorry I did not. 
But in the present excitement of the times here, I, without much reflection, thought 
it best not to say anything to any of my friends upon the subject, to avoid those ever- 
lasting jealousies by which I have been so much annoyed, and I thought if there was 
any man on eartli who would see into and fully appreciate my motives, you were 
that man. If I am mistaken, let it pass ; and even if I am right, dismiss the matter 
from your mind without observation, and let me hear from you. I had already 
delivered my resignation. I believed, at all events, it was settled that I would do 
so before Hoyt leftliere, and I thought for a moment to write you and Cambreling 
by him, but concluded it would be best to let it alone, and let him go off without 
the slightest hint upon the subject. Cambreling got his information at Albany from 
Butler, to whom I wrote a short note, as I stated to you this morning. I am thus 
particular on this subject because I would not for the world that you should for a 
moment harbor the thought that my confidence in, or regard for you, whicii I have 
cherished with so much sincerity and disinterestedness, had slackened iu the slight- 



214 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

est degree, "^e have really been so mucli under whip and spur here for a few 
weeks past, that we had but little time or opportunity for reflection. The Cabinet 
will be Livingston, McLean, White, and Woodbury ; and if Berrian resigns, some one 
from Virginia, not yet decided upon ; but as tbese are not all certain you will, of 
course, say nothing about it for the present. 

"Pweinemher me kindly to your family, and believe me to be truly yours, in 
haste, &c. I hope to see you soon." 

James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. 

" New York, May 1, 1831. 
" I received, my dear friend, your letters of the 25th ultimo, yesterday, on my 
return to the city, or they would have been answered sooner. Your course has 
been dictated by profound wisdom. It is a stroke of a master, and will be rewarded 
with entire success. You retire with the confidence of the President, and have 
secured the attachment of all his friends, while you have disarmed your and his foes. 
Heretofore, with all your advantages, you wanted in the general estimation the 
assurance of your power to fill a large space in the general atfairs of the country. 
Your short term of service has given the most satisfactory evidence that your qual- 
ifications extend to any situation to which you may aspire. Availing yourself of 
late events, you retire from the public service with reasons that do you honor, and 
you avoid all the difficulties and, perhaps, disasters which events, not at all improb- 
able, may bring about ; for it is not in human aff'airs and particularly in those of 
public men, to go on with uninterrupted success. The boundary line question, cer- 
tain nppointments, the bank, the surplus revenue, and some anticipations, par- 
ticularly those connected with atfairs abroad, give to the future an aspect from 
which assured confidence alone could anticipate success. All this you avoid, and 
you go before the people, if such be your pleasure, exactly in the manner a wise 
politician could wush : with the bitterest hostility of your enemies, the warmest sup- 
port of your friends. This is my view of this subject as it respects you. As to 
the President, I confess I have some gloomy apprehensions which, however, are in 
some degree diminished by the Cabinet. As you have stated it, I must say that as to 
Woodbury I have great doubts. He can give the President no political strength ; 
and he was engaged in the cabal with Callioun and Tazewell at the first formation 
of the Cal)inet. He knows, or believes, he must be suspected, and will therefore 
probably be false; however, of all this you are better informed than I can be. As 
to the most interesting part of your letters, I forbear to remark on it because yon 
have expressed a wish that I should dismiss it from my mind. I confess, the reserve 
on the part of the President and yourself has deeply, very deeply wounded me, not 
becnise I have been denied the small gratification of knowing a little more or a 
little sooner than others, what was going on, but from deeper considerations, con- 
nected with much more interesting matter. I will write to you again in a day or 
two. With undiminished confidence and attachment, 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to William B. Lewis. 

" New York, May 3, 1831. 
" My Dear Sir : In your letter of the 2Gth ultimo, referring to my silence in rela- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON, 215 

tion to the recent changes, you ask me, "What is the matter with you? " Permit 
me, as I live east of the Hudson, to use the privilege of a Yankee — to answer your 
question by asking another: WJiy were you so silent in relation to those changes? 
You knew of them ; you wrote to me after they had been made, or at least had been 
determined upon. I asked you a question in relation to the rumors in regard to Ing- 
ham. We had conferred long ago in relation to changes not extending so far as 
these have done by one step only. There has been no reserve heretofore ; why 
then, I ask and confidently indidge the hope tliat you will give me an explicit an- 
swer, were you silent? "Were yon requested to be so, and by whom? It could not 
have been from a want of confidence that I could keep a secret — what then was it ? 
It was not the i-esult of a general plan, because others were informed with the ex- 
press intention that it should be divulged to members of our Legislature. If the 
I'eserve was occasioned by what heretofore passed between the President and my- 
self, looking to this conjuncture (if you know what that w'as, you will understand 
me — if you do not, you never will from me), I liave tlien been treated with this 
w^ant of confidence, founded on a false appreciation of my character, and particular- 
ly of my devotion to my friends. I enclose a letter I wrote within the first half hour 
that I heard the rumor. Pead and destroy it ; it must not be shown to any 
other. I think Van Buren has made a master's stroke which cannot but redound 
to his advantage, and may be useful to the President. There were two courses — 
one, that which has been taken, which is probably the best ; the other, to have 
made an authoritative change in three of the Departments. The boldness of the lat- 
ter course would have commanded respect, and probably have produced intimida- 
tion ; and at the same time it would have aftbrded an opportunity to have made an 
exposition in relation to recent events that would have been useful. I am entirely 
satisfied, however, that the course which has been pursued will give Van Buren a 
strong hold on the public. The i)roposed Cabinet is a strong one. I sincerely hope 
Judge White will not decline. He is the balance wheel of the whole. I inclose a 
letter to the President. Yesterday I wrote fully to Mr. Van Buren. See my letter 
to him. •'• Your sincere friend, &c." 

It may, connected with Van Buren's course toward me on this change 
of the Cabinet, not be improper to express my opinion as to his motive for con- 
cealment of so important a purpose. 

The President at one time told me that he wanted me near him, and that I 
should take the place of Secretary of the Navy. At another, that I should 
take the State Department when Van Buren should leave that place, as be 
would do ere long. 

No man was more true to bis friends and to bis word than Jackson was. 
I have no doubt that Van Buren knew the President's wishes and feelings in 
regard to me ; and be feared, should 1 be informed of the proposed change, that 
I might recall to the President's recollection bis enfrajrements with me. I most 
certainly would not have interfered, by my presence or otherwise, with the 
proposed arrangements. ' 

[ The changes certainly strengthened the administration. The first was, I 
verily believe, the most unintellectual and uneducated Cabinet we ever bad. \ 



21 G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Van Burcn -was sagacious; he bad no pretensions to being a statesman, be 
had no skill in composition. His first report in 1829 required much emenda- 
tion. I remained with him after be entered upon the duties of his office, in 
April, 1829; we lived together at a private boarding-house until about June 
8, 1829. During that time, in conversation about the historical events of this 
A and other countries, I was amazed to learn how uninformed he was. He de- 
pended upon his son John to aid him in his writings, until he got Mr. Benja- 
min Butler, afterwards Attorney-General, upon whom he essentially depended. 

Ingham, who was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, came to Washington 
\ seeking the place of Comptroller. This was his and his friends' appreciation 
of his ability. 

Brent had not one quality to fit him for the place he held. Secretary of 
(J the Navy ; and Eaton was made Secretary of War because, as Jackson told me, 
he " must have a friend about him upon whom he could rely." 

J. Macpberson Berrien, Attorney-General, was the only man of education 
among the whole. 

Mr. Donelsou, the President's Private Secretary, was an intelligent and in- 
structed man. 

James A. Hamilton' to President Jackson. 

" New Yoek, May 3, 1831. 
" My Deal: Sir : I wrote a very hasty letter to you on Saturday. Sunday and 
Monday I could not write as I intended, because I could not see Eljiiid. Yester- 
day evening I received the inclosed note from biin, and to-day have seen him. He 
has agreed to give an order to the Messrs. Howland's to pay over to me the balanc,e 
of the proceeds of the sale of the horses after deducting expenses, to be held subject 
to your order ; thus in effect doing all that could be wished. The Marshal, it is 
agreed, is to attend at and cooperate in the sale. I drafted the order on the How- 
land's fur bini, wbicli be lias taken to submit to bis counsel, and to bring it to me in 
Court whither I am about to go. I will send a coin- of it with an official letter to 
Van Buren to-day, if I have time ; if not, to-morrow. I have written fully to Van 
Buron and Lewis my views in relation to recent changes, and have exjiressed to the 
latter the pain I liave felt in consequence of the reserve which has been observed 
toward me on the occasion. I fear that on this occasion you have not sufficiently 
appreciated the disinterested devotion I feel toward you, and which I am capable 
of exercising Avlien circumstances require it. I will only add that your choice of a 
Cabinet is most excellent. 1 doubt a little about tlie Navy, for the reasons I have 
given Van Buren. Witb the truest attachment, 

" Your friend always, «fcc." 

James A. Hamilton to the President oe the United States. (Private.) 

" New Yoek, May 3, 1831. 
"My Dear Sir: Mr. Bbind has executed the order upon the Ilowland's as I 
drew it, merely adding that I am to liold the funds until the final decision of the 
President which makes no material dilierence in the matter. 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON.N 217 

" The solicitude Mr. PJiind manifests that the Jolin Adams should be detained, 
and that she should not go to Smyrna — results from a state of things which it is 
proper you should know. Eckford has built a Corvette, and proposed models of the 
vessels. Eckford and Ehind are to go over in her ; she is to be sold to the Sultan, and 
contracts are expected to be made for other vessels. I know of nothing between 
the Turks and Russians at present that Avould render these transactions illegal. How 
far they may be deemed of so questionable expediency as to render it proper for the 
Government to keep entirely aloof from them, I cannot judge. I incline, hoAvever, 
to the opinion that these facts, connected with the rejection by the Senate of the 
second Article, should iuduce you not to allow or order a further delay of the ship; 
but it would be well that she should not go to Smyrna. 

"I write again in extreme haste in Court, and amid the entanglement of law- 
yers, &c. " With the truest attachment, your friend." 

Charles Rhind to Howland & Aspinwall. 

"New York, May 3, 1831. 

" Gentlemen : The Marshal, under the advice of Mr. Hamilton, District Attorney, 
will unite with you in the sale of the four Arabian horses, and after deducting from 
the proceeds the amount expended in transporting them from Constantinople to this . 
City and keeping them here, together with the expenses of the sale, you will pay 
over the balance to J. A. Hamilton Esq., subject to the orders of the President, until 
final decision is made by him on the subject." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Martin Van Buren, Sec'y of State, 

Washington. 

"New York, May 4, 1831. 

"Sir: In obedience to your letter of the 23d ultimo, I had an interview with 
Mr. Ehind on the 8d inst., when it was agreed between us that the Marshal of the 
H. S. and the Consignees, the Messrs. Howland's, who had before refused to deliver 
the horses to the Marshal unless their advances were paid, should cooperate in the 
sale which had been advertised for the 15th inst. in this city, and that, after deduct- 
ing from the proceeds of such sale the amount expended in transporting the horses 
from Constantinople to this city and keeping them here, together with the expenses 
of the sale, the balance should be paid over to me to be held subject to the order of 
the President. In pursuance of that agreement, Mr. Rhind immediately executed an 
order upon the Messrs. Howland's, who upon presentation accepted the same. A 
copy of the order with the acceptance is inclosed, the original being returned by 
me to be delivered to them whenever it is complied with. 

" This arrangement was proposed by Mr. Rhind, as one by Avhich the intention 
of the President in relation to the horses could be carried out with coraidete eliect 
and acceded to by me ; because, as the Government could only be entitled to receive 
the horses after the expenses to which the Consignees and Mr. Ehind had been ex- 
posed in bringing and keeping them were paid, and as no funds were appropriated 
to pay these expenses, that could be best done by deducting the same from the pro- 
ceeds. It was also believed that, as the horses had been advertised for sale at a 
period when those persons from all sections of tlie country who would probably 
be disposed to purchase these animals were drawn to this city by the approaching 



2 18 REMINISCLNCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

races, tliey would sell to greater advantage than if tliey were taken by the Marshal 
raid advertised for sale at a remoter period. 

"These considerations and others have induced me to exercise a discretion 
which I believed was committed to me on the occasion, and which I hope will meet 
with the President's approvaL I have the honor' to be, 

" With very great respect, 

" Your Obedient Servant." 

President Andrew Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" WAsnixGTON, May 4, 1831. 
" Dear Sik : Mr. James Coggeshall, of New York, has communicated to me in 
confidence the substance of certain disclosures made to him by the pirate Gibbs, 
also .James D. Jeffrees, recently executed in New York. The facts as stated are of 
deep interest, and if Coggeshall is as honest and respectable a man as he is repre- 
sented to be, the subject ought to be sifted to the bottom. I have informed him that 
I can take no stejis in the matter until I hear from jou, by whom the prosecution 
against the jjirate was conducted, and have advised Mr. Coggeshall to return 
to Now York and communicate the whole matter to you. You will please to send 
for him and receive his statement in form ; and report it to me, with the best evi- 
dence you can ujion a full and careful examination obtain, as to the credibility of 
Mr. Coggeshall, the probable character of his motives for making the disclosure to 
government, and tlie circumstances under which the confessions were made by the 
deceased pirate. Any .suggestions you may thiuk proper to make upon the subject 
will be thankfully receiveJ. 

" A^ery truly yours, etc." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" New Yokk, May 5, 1830. 

"Mr Dear Sir : I had t!ic pleasure to-day to receive your letter of the 2d inst. 
The inclosed letter intended for the State Department will show the completion of 
the business to which yours refers. I hope the course I have taken Avill mett your 
approbation. Mr. Khind said he had a conversation on the subject with Mr. Edward 
Livingston, who gives it as his opinion that the course pursued was the wisest in 
reference to the Treaty. I inclose my official letter open to you, in order that, if it 
shoulil be considered best to be withheld or varied in any part, it may be re- 
turned for that purpose. I sincerely hope your friend "White will accede to your 
Avishes, althougli I fear it will be against his feelings to do so. The approval of re- 
cent movements is manifesting itself very generally. "With the most sincere and un- 
alterable attachment, I remain, 

'•Yours, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, May T, 1831. 
" Mt Dear Friend : I embrace the opportunity offered by Mr. Trist to say a word 
to you. The spirit manifested in your last is precisely that which I should have 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 219 

expected from yoa. Dismiss the subject from your mind -vvitli tliis assurance that 
there is not now, nor has there at any time been, the slightest abatement of the con- 
fidence and affection on tlie part of the President or myself toward you. To the 
extent to which appearances may at any time have given countenance to a different 
state of things, they -were deceptive. I have not shown him your letter because he is 
sufficiently worriel by otlier matters; and I could not bear to inflict upon him the 
mortification which the consciousness of such an apprehension on your part would, 
I know, produce. When I see you — which will be, I hope, in a few weeks — we will 
talk over matters and things. In the mean time, I say to you in confidence that, 
although I have not yet finally decided to go to England, I am inclmed to think that 
I will come to that result. I should be pleased to give you my reasons for thinking 
it the preferable course (in which you would concur) ; but they are too much for a 
letter, and Mr. Trist is waiting. I was very anxious to hear your opinion as to the 
propriety of the recent movement here, and happy to find that it was so favorable. 
It has been and continues to be a very painful one; but every day's reflection con- 
vinces me of its propriety. 

" Believe me to be, very truly yours, &c. 

"P. S. I congratulate you on your success with Mr. Ehind. You can have no 
idea how this small matter has worried me— if it hod gone otherwise, a degree, and 
no inconsiderable one, of discredit would have been thrown upon the whole negotia- 
tion. The President's letter was the last shot in the locker, and I placed much 
reliance upon it under your skilful direction." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. M. Van Buken. 

"New York, May 14, 1831. 

" Sir : I have the honor to inform you that the four Arabian horses, presented by 
the Sultan to Mr. Ehind and brought by him from Constantinople to this City, were 
this day sold by Public Auction at Tattersals (the place at which h()r>es are usually 
sold in this city), to-day at 13 o'clock, for the aggregate sum of nineteen hundred 
and ninety dollars ($1990). 

"There was a very great assemblage at the sale, and everything vras done to 
obtain the best prices. The inclosed is a copy of the advertisement of sale. 

" An account of the expenses of transportation, keeping, and sale will be present- 
ed to me without delay and forwarded to you in order that I may receive the 
President's instructions in relation to the same. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" New York, May 18, 1831. 
"My Deae Sir: I have the pleasure to inclose to you a letter recently received 
from Mr. Rives. Be so good, after you have read it, as to reinclose it to me. In com- 
pliance with his wishes, I am taking means to induce the claimants * to authorize a 
compromise. The lowest sum to which they will assent will jn-obably be five 
million dollars. If there is any information at Washington tliat sliould induce a 
behef that as large a sum as that cannot be obtained, I should like to know it in 



* On France. 



220 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

order that I may endeavor to depress the expectations of the claimants even more 
than I liave ah-eady done. It would afford me the most sincere pleasure to be of 
service to the government in this case, as it would at all times and under all circum- 
stances, my dear friend, to serve you. I have looked with great solicitude and the 
sympathy of a friend to recent events and their consequences as to our country and 
the fame of my chief, and with the utmost pleasure I haye come to the conclusion 
that all has been not only well done, but that it will result as well as could be 
expected or wished. 

" I remain, with the truest attachment, your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

"New Yoek, May 22, 1831. 

"MyDeakSik: You will have learned from the newspapers that there has 
been a Convention of Manufacturers in this city, at which a Connecticut man made 
a foolish speech. I would not call your attention to this meeting if that was the 
only foolish thing they did. There was also a private informal meeting of the leaders 
of anti-masonry, and formal propositions were made by the former to the latter that 
they should unite in the support of Clay, which were rejected, the anti-masons 
declaring that they would be consistent throughout and stand or fall by their princi- 
ples. This determination, if adhered to, will secure the Electors of this State by a 
vast mojority. I do not mean to express a doubt that tlie result would be favorable 
in any event, but that it will in such a state of things be triumphant. By an arrival 
yesterday from Havre, bringing news to the ISth April from that [)lace, there is much 
reason to fear that there has been another revolution in Paris. A private letter, 
from a respectable source, as I understand, received on the morning of the 18th, 
stated the fact. From the character of the present: ministry it is much to be feared 
that such an attempt will produce most dreadful consequences. If the ministry are 
successful, absolutism will have achieved a victory. If the people drive their masters 
out of Paris, there will be civil war, and consequently France will be a party to the 
Holy Alliance. Removed from the storm, we calmly follow its course and anticipate 
its results wliich, however, as a Nation or as lovers of liberty, must be deeply interest- 
ing to us. If ignorance and despotism should temporarily prevail, permanently they 
cannot against knowledge and freedom; they \\o\\\(i partition Yvawcq and govern 
all Europe with an iron grasp and a lash of scorpions. In that event, our liberal 
institutions and rapid improvements would be a source of jealousy and fear to them. 
This, however, is an anticipation too remote and calamitous to be indulged. En- 
slaved Europe is destined shortly to be free. 

" A meeting is called for to-morrow evening in behalf of the Poles. From the 
names of the persons who subscribe the call (Mr. Pikers excepted), they are all of 
the opposition, and men of schemes and contrivances. Their power of doing good 
is so small that I apprehend they mean mischief. I will attend the meeting purposely 
to watch their movements, and will give you an account of it if anything occurs 
deserving of remembrance. I had the pleasure to see your adopted son yesterday 
who, I am happy to perceive, appears to be in fine health. With sincere regard, 

" Your devoted friend, &c." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 221 

Pbesident Andrew Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, May 22, 1831. 

"MyDeae Sir: I have this moment received your kind letter of the 18th, 
inclosing Mr. Elves' of the 24th of March last, which, having perused with attention, 
I now return as you have requested. We have no information here that would 
authorize the conclusion that the sum of five millions of dollars cannot he obtained 
from France on our claims, unless we would found our belief upon the report of a 
majority of the French commissioners, to whom it appears this matter was referred, 
who reduce the amount to three millions. This, I would suppose, was intended by 
them as a basis upon which their first bid was intended to be made as a gross sum, 
but intending to come up to the amount of the ni'mov'ity, Jive millions. This last 
sum would, as I believe, cover all our just claims. I am certain six millions would. 
Wisdom and good policy would suggest the jjropriety of reducing the consent of the 
claimants to the lowest sum possible ; whilst we know Mr. Rives will push tliern as 
high as there are any hopes of success. Five or six millions ought to be accepted 
by Mr. Eives, if ofiered, under existing circumstances. The lively interest you have 
always taken in my prosperity and happiness since our first acquaintance, deserves, 
as it receives, my warmest gratitude and thanks. I have had many evidences of 
your kind feelings, and have duly appreciated them. I will always place a true value 
on your friendship. It is gratifying to learn that the reorganization of my cabinet 
has met with the full approbation of my friends. The moment Mr. Van liuren and 
Major Eaton tendered their resignations, there was but one proper course for me to 
adopt : that was to renew my cabinet proper. I parted w^ith those two friends with 
much regret ; but I am sure a grateful country will never lose sight of such disin- 
terestedness. And what a contrast! Calhoun using all low intrigue to obtain ofiice, 
whilst those two true republicans are voluntarily resigning office for the quiet and 
repose of the country. With a tender of my kind salutations to you and your 
amiable family, I am, respectfully your friend, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

" May 23, 1831. 

" My Deae Sir : In going over my papers for destroying such as are no longer 
useful, I find the inclosed which may be so to you. File it away with your Tomp- 
kins correspondence. I deliver over to-morrow, and will be with you in about ten 
days, when we shall have an old-fashioned talk. 

" Very truly yours, &c. 

" P. S. — The President will write yon to-day or to-morrow upon the subject of 
the letter from Mr. Elves which you enclosed to him." 

James A. Hamilton to General Van Suolten. 

"New York, May 28, 1831. 

"My Dear General: I had the pleasure yesterday to receive your letter of 

the 23d ultimo, with a box of wine, for which I return you my sincere thanks. Mr. 

Van Buren will be here in a day or two, when he will receive those good things 

destined for him, and as he may sail in the course of the next month for England, 



222 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

he will probably bave an opportunify to thank you in person in London, and to give 
you an opportunity to judge whether the wine is improved or not by a double 
voyage. I did not see your friend, Judge Frederickson, whicli I much regret, not 
only because I was thus deprived of the pleasnre of enjoying the society of a very 
agreeable person as Mr. Hone informs nie he is, but as I lost an opportunity to give 
that attention Avhich your recommendation will always command to one of our 
countrymen or any other person. He had gone to Philadelphia when I called 
upon him, and I was absent from the city when he returned. Do me the favor to 
make this explanation to him for me when you see him. 

"Amid the events of burning interest which will arrest your attention in Europe 
at this moment, these important to ns personally, but unconseqnential to others, 
which have recently occurred here, cannot interest you. I will therefore only say 
that tl:e change of Cabinet must be accounted for by the reasons that are given in 
the letters of the parties. You well know that the scandal in relation to Mrs. Eaton 
had produced some discord before you arrived here. That, however, was not the 
leading motive of the opposition in Congress and elsewhere on the part of Mr. 
Calhoun and his friends. It was only laid hold of as an ostensible cause of differ- 
ence. The real one was the fear of Mr. Van Buren's power and influence with the 
President and his Cabinet in the Government. Mr. Calhoun well knew that, if that 
power continued undiminished, Mr. Van Buren would be his most formidable com- 
petitor, lie therefore determined to strike at home, careless whether he should 
jiit the President or not. The consequence of that course of Mr. Calhoun was, that 
he distracted the Administration party in both Houses so much as to make it pow- 
erless. He was not prepared for the coup dJ'itat which followed, and which, from 
present appearances, has frustrated hira. Van Buren has the merit with Jackson's 
friends of having made a great sacrifice to the success of the administration. They 
ai-e, therefore, bound to him by indissoluble ties. He has removed from Calhoun all 
pretence of a continued opposition. He is hailed as a most disinterested patriot by his 
party, and he goes probably to England, removed from the fight for three or four 
years, with the advantage of having administered the affairs of his department in a 
successful manner for two years. These coups are always problematical, but in this 
case he has strong grounds to hope for a successful result. More anon. This letter 
will be conveyed to you by my most worthy friend, Mr. Vaughan, who returns to 
his country with the esteem of all Americans who have known him. Be so good as 
to write to me fully upon the state of Europe, and remember me always as your 
most affectionate friend, &c." 

THE STOLEN JEWELS. 

The Jewels of Heu Koyal Highness, the Piuncess of Okaxge, Stolen 

BY Constant Polari. 
Prom the testimony taken during the various proceedings instituted in the 
District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, it 
was proved that Constant Polari and Susanna Blanche (she was an unmarried 
woman but was represented by the said Polari as his wife) arrived at the port 
of New York on the 15th day of June, 1831, in the ship Francis I., from 
Havre. Polari brought with him concealed about his person, and about the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 223 

person of his pretended wife, a large number of jewels of very great value, 
probably not less than 50,000 dollarr-. The said jewels M'ere smuggled from 
the ship in a hollow walking stick, and in a staiF in the similitude of an umbrella 
case, large enough to hold an umbrella. Polari and his assumed wife went to a 
house known as 566 Pearl street, in the city of New York, to board ; and John 
Rouraage, being a Frenchman, a detective then boarding in the same house, by 
his delicate and assiduous attentions to Susanna, soon learned that Polari had 
brought jewels from France, and had smuggled them into the port. He did 
more, as the sequel will prove. He touched Susanna's heart, and as she was 
deprived of the Italian, she took the Frenchman as her husband. By means 
of a search warrant, the jewels were found in that house and seized as for- 
feited. On the 28th day of July, 1831, the Collector (Swartwout), called 
upon the District Attorney at his house, he being confined to his bed by illness, 
related all the circumstances of the seizure, and urged the attorney to take 
measures without delay to arrest Polari, and institute the necessary proceed- 
ings to condemn the jewels as forfeited to the United States, which was done 
on the 31st of July, 1831. The effect of the forfeiture of smuggled goods 
then was, that one half of the proceeds of the sale, after the payment of the 
taxed costs, was to go to the United States, and the other half to the Collector 
and two other officers of the Customs in equal parts. The smuggled goods 
were libelled, and Constant Polari was arrested for §50,000, and for want of 
bail was sent to prison, where he remained over a year. 

On the 27th of November, 1829, the Collector had received iKstructions 
from the Secretary of the Treasury, to take measures to recover the jewels 
which had been stolen from the palace of the Prince of Orange, at Brussels, on 
the nights of the 25th and 26th of September, 1829, and for the recovery of 
which a reward had been offered by proclamation, published in the newspapers of 
the City of New York, of $10,000. The District Attorney became convinced 
that these jewels and those smuggled by Polari were the same, and intimated 
his belief to the Collector, but that officer gave an impatient reply and an em- 
phatic denial. He afterward wrote a note to the Attorney to know why the 
proceedings for the condemnation were not prosecuted with effect. The Attor- 
ney, in a private letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, dated January 28th, 
1832, said : 

" I have been singularly unfortunate in this most laborious and vexatious busi- 
ness." (The Attorney received and wrote, in all, ninety-sis letters in relation to the 
proceedings connected with the jewels, which are now before him.) " As soon as 
I was satisfied that the jewels were the property of the Princess of Orange and 
were stolen from her (to which latter point there is abundant evidence in the con- 
fessions of Polari), I determined that the honor of the country would be stained if 
they were condemned and sold ; and in the course I have taken I have been inllu- 
enced alone by a desire to avoid such a disaster. In all which, I am quite sure, I 
have been sustained not only by every member of the Executive Government but 
by every man at all acquainted with the subject who is not influenced by interested 



224 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

considerations. I have constantly urged the course which I believe you thought 
best, and I am persuaded that Ilujgens did not adopt it because he indulged un- 
worthy suspicions of you ; and which, at times, I believe were entertained even as 
to the fairness of my own intentions. Although I have been thus offended, and al- 
though I have been harrassed more than you can conceive by the importunities of 
the Minister and his son, and although my motives have been assailed in private and 
in public by the officers of the Customs, their associates and dependants" (Xoah 
published an otiensive article), " I have persevered in the course which duty pre- 
scribed. My advice as to the cost of the Court, and the duties (which was that the 
United States should pay the former), amounting to $69.32, taxed costs, and 
should remit the duties, was influenced by a wish that no fact should exist to which 
any person could refer in order to sustain the impressions that our Government 
had been wanting in high and generous feelings in this matter. I believed that 
this property came within that class of cases, when goods are brought into the 
United States by superior force or inevitable accident. They are, therefore, not 
liable to duties." 

Another letter to Mr. McLane, October 8tb, 1831 : 

" When the copy of your letter was delivered to me, the Collector asked me why 
the proceedings to condemn the property did not progress ; I replied that the Secre- 
tary of State had directed me to stay the proceedings until the pleasure of the Presi- 
dent was known, and that, in obedience to those instructions, I had done so. The 
Collector expressed the opinion that it was a subject whully under your direction, 
and that uni-estrained by you I ought to proceed. I therefore now take the liberty 
to ask instructions from yon on the subject." 

By a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, dated October 6th, 1831, 
I was, by order of the President, directed to appear for the Prince of Orange 
as owner and claimant, and I was directed thus : " You will use the same zeal 
and diligence in sustainins; before the Court this claim, as if it were a claim of 
the United States." In obedience to this order, I prepared and presented to 
the Court a petition in the name and on behalf of the Prince of Orange, and 
as bis counsel and attorney served a copy and notice of same on the Collector, 
■who appeared by Mr. HoflFman as his attorney, to open the claim, and upon evi- 
dence and argument sustain that claim, I was ordered by the Secretary of State 
to take the evidence which Huygens, the Minister of the King of the Nether- 
lands, should submit to me to show that the jewels seized were those stolen from 
the palace of the Prince, and to report the same to the President with my opin- 
ion. I did so ; made my report and expressed my opinion that the evidence was 
conclusive to show that these jewels were those which had belonged to the 
Princess of Orange, and that they ought to be restored to her. The draft of 
my Report, now before me, was sent to the Department, and presented to the 
President, who directed the Secretary of State to address a letter to the 
Charge d' Affaires of the King of the Netherlands, dated 13th January, 1832, 
in wliich he says : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 225 

" Departmext of State, ) 

""Washington, January 13, 1832. \ 

Edward Livingstox, Secretary of State, To Count Lovendale, Charge d'Affaires 
of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands. 

" Sib : I am dh-ected by the President to inform you that, after a full considera- 
tion of the application made for his interposition in the case of the jewels seized by 
the officers of the Customs at ISTew York, and libelled as forfeited to the United 
States, he has determined either to direct a nolle prosequi to be entered in tlie case 
of the libel, or to grant a pardon so far as respects the forfeiture of the jewels, as the 
one or the other course shall be preferred by you, under the advice of your counsel, 
and in the latter case that he will direct the Attorney of the United States to apply 
for an order to deliver the articles to you, and to support such motion on your be- 
half. As soon as you shall signify to lue which of the two modes of proceeding you 
shall prefer, I am directed to send on the necessary documents to carry your wishes 
into effect. The President desires me to assure you that he regrets the delay that 
has taken place, which has arisen from a necessary caution not to interfere in the 
decision of a judiciary, and he hopes that in the determination to which he has now 
come, you will see a new evidence of the desire he has always felt to show his re- 
spect for the King your Sovereign, and so to exercise all his constitutional powers 
as to preserve the most friendly relations with your country. 

"Accept Sir, I pray you, the assurances of my high consideration." 

On the 31sfc of January, 1832, the District Attorney of the United States 
addressed a letter to Secretary of State, informing him that the duties upon the 
jewels having been secured to be paid, and the costs in both suits (one by the 
United States, the other by the Prince of Orange), as taxed $69.32 by the Dis- 
trict Judge, having been paid, a nolle prosequi was upon motion, in open court, 
this day entered in both the libels against the jewels, the said jewels having 
been ordered by the court to be delivered to the claimant. They are now in 
possession of Le Chevalier Huygens, late minister, who will take them with him 
that they may be restored to her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange. On 
the same day, the Chevalier Huygens addressed to the District Attorney of 
the United States a letter as follows : 

" The completion of this measure having been effectuated, I seize this opportunity 
to offer you my sincere thanks for the services you have rendered in bringing this 
tedions case to an end, and I congratulate you that you have completed the mea- 
sure by which both governments liave been liberated from the perplexities which so 
long prevented us to come to a favorable result. 

"Accept, Sir, the renewed assurances of my most sincere esteem." 

A large portion of the stolen jewels having been buried by Polari and Su- 
sanna Blanche, about three miles out of Brooklyn, she and Koumage, during 
the imprisonment of Polari, went to the spot, took up the jewels, and on or 
about the 24th of August, 1831, under the name of John Eoberts and wife, 
15 



226 KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

sailed from Philadelphia iu the ship Monougahela for Liverpool. Mr. Huygens 
hearing of their departure, dispatched a pilot boat from New York with a de- 
tective on board for the port of Liverpool, where she arrived before the ship, 
and where Roberts and wife were arrested, and the jewels in their possession 
seized. We learned afterward that the settings of the jewels having been re- 
moved, they were buried in a wood in the suburbs of the city. Polari, during 
his imprisonment prepared a petition in French, well written, which was addressed 
to the President, and by him referred to the District Attorney for his report 
on the facts. The poor devil was released from imprisonment, and taken by 
the son of the minister Huygeus on board a vessel, and sent to Amsterdam. 
What became of him I know not. Young Huygens having some difficulty iu 
settling his accounts with his government, his father asked J. A. Hamilton to 
address a letter to him to state with how much assiduity and skill the young man 
attended to the business of the jewels, and particularly, after the departure of 
his father, in sending Polari to the Netherlands. 

It has sometimes occurred to me as singular that the services rendered by 
the writer as District Attorney of the United States to the Princess of Orange, 
in rescuing her jewels (said to be worth a million of dollars) from forfeiture, 
has never been recognized in any manner whatever. The only compensation 
he ever received was the taxed costs, $69.32, from the United States for his 
great labor and important services. 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washingtox, July 23, 1831. 

"My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 17th has been some days received, but 
really, I have not had time to ve]Aj to it. I am fearful it will not be in my power 
to meet Mr. Van Buren in New York before he departs for England. Nothing 
would afford me more pleasure than to meet him there ; but the Nullifiers have com- 
menced operations in Charleston. The Attorney for the District has resigned rather 
than commeuce suits on revenue bonds ; and I am determined to meet the crisis 
with deliberation and energy, I will have testimony that ^il\ show who are the 
ringleaders in this wicked plot, if ringleaders there be. 

" I hope Mr. McLane will be with you when this reaches you. If I cannot go on 
to meet Mr. Van Buren before he sails, I will be much gratified to see you here at the 
time you have said, as we have been disappointed in your last promised visit; come 
on with Mr, McLane, and say to him I am very anxious to see him here in possession 
of the Treasury Department. 

" Respectfully your friend.'' 

Mautin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"August 1, 1881. 
" My Dear Sir : Smith tells me you were kind enough to wish to be informed of 
my movements. They have been, and still continue to be, so much involved in un- 
certainty as to put it out of my power to speak with anything like precision. The 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 227 

moment McLane arrives I can lay my course and not before. I leave here to-day 
for Albany, and if I do not bear anytbing there to change my course, I sliall go to 
Saratoga and veait events. The water will be useful to me preparatory to my voy- 
age, and I shall be there as much if not more in the line of information as at this 
place. I wrote to the President that, if it should be deemed more advisable, it would 
be quite agreeable to me to go in one of the packets. He wrote me back that it was 
his wish that I should go in the Potomac, and that he had ordered her to be at New 
York on the 1st of August, where I see she has just arrived. After McLane comes, 
I shall have to follow him. If you should be at New York when he arrives, could 
you not prevail upon him to remain until I can be sent for, which would take but a 
short time? This would be a great accommodation to me, and I would be there by 
the time he could get his baggage out, &c. I send this by mail, fearing that you may 
not be at Catskill. Write me whatever occurs to you, directed to Albany, and believe 
me to be, 

" Very truly yours, &c." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" September 3, 1831. 

"My Dear Sir: Your kind letter of the 1st instant is this moment received, for 
which I sincerely thank you. Truth is mighty, and being of the essence of Divinity, 
must always prevail. Therefore, the fate of the Judases Ingham, Boraush, and Ber- 
rican I believed would be a consignment to the utter contempt of all honorable men. 
This has happened to them. 

"I have no fear of the ratification of the treaty by the Chambers of France; I 
have the pledge of the King personally conveyed, and our friend General La Fayette, 
who is now in the opposition, will use all his influence to have the appropriation 
made for its fulfilment; on his union on this subjec* with the king I rest my opin- 
ion, I have this moment received the dispatches accompanying the Treaty, and my 
Cabinet is about to convene for the purpose of bestowing upon it a reading ; there- 
fore, I must close this hasty note with a tender of my best wishes for your health 
and happiness. Hoping soon to see you in "Washington, 

"I am respectfully, your friend, Andrew Jackson." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Louis McLane, Sec'y of the Treas'y, 

"New York, September 16, 1831. 
" Dear Sir: The information I now give you I do not intend as a complaint, and 
I must request you not to use it as the ground of admonition or rebuke. Pvecent 
events connected with the seizure of the jewels, and your recent appointment to 
office afibrd you a fair opportunity to give instructions on the subject without seem- 
ing to imply censure. The Collector, from kindness of disposition, from tnisappre- 
hension of his duty, and the intention of the Legislature in enacting penal laws, has 
too frequently exercised the right of determining when forfeitures and penalties 
might be abandoned, both before and after prosecution. At a very early day I 
insisted that he had no such power; that the law required him in all cases to seize 
and prosecute with efiect where a forfeiture or penalty has been incurred (indeed, 
so much so that, since the Act of April, 1818, the power conferred on the Collector 
by the Proviso to the 67th Section of the Collection laws of 1799 to decide upon the 



228 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

intention Las been taken from him), and that the right of remission or mitigation 
was vested in you or the President alone. He, however, thinks differently, and 
assumes that right. In several cases, after informations have been filed in cases like 
that which was the subject of my letter to you of yesterday, he directed the prose- 
cutions to be discontinued. In one case of smuggling (where the goods were con- 
demned), he directed me absolutely, after I remonstrated, to discharge the offender 
from imprisonment ; and in otber cases, where articles of no great value are seized 
as smuggled, he has ordered them to the public store, and they have been sold with- 
out condemnation ; and in two cases of whichi was informed yesterday, — one, where 
one case and two bales of foreign goods were found on board a coasting vessel and 
sent to the public store, and another, where several articles of ready-made clothing 
were brought out for a tailor by the steward of one of the Liverpool vessels, no pro- 
ceedings having taken place. This last, of bringing out ready-made clothes, has 
been a subject of serious complaint by the tailors. It is due to them that, wherever 
there is detection, an example should be made. The law prescribing the duty of the 
Collector is explicit, and ought therefore to be obeyed ; but, above all, the course 
that is now pursued ought not to be tolerated because it may lead to the worst 
practices. In the very cause which I recently tried, it was proved and urged to the 
jury, as a ground of acquittal, that goods in like predicament with those on trial 
had, since the seizure in that case, been passed by the Collector after they were ap- 
praised, and found to be erroneously charged. I again repeat that I do not make these 
statements as accusatory, for I verily believe that these incorrect proceedings result, 
in a great measure, from kindness of disposition and misapprehension of the law. I 
was informed of the last two cases, noticed by the officer who made the seizures, 
who inquired as to what had been done, and I had to tell him that no prosecutions 
had been instituted. The effect on the officer will probably be to suppose that, if 
ihe Collector does not notice such violations of the laws, he need not do so. 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

"New York, September 18, 1831. 
"I have the pleasure, my dear sir, to inclose an eztra, containing the news re- 
'ceived yesterday after the mail closed, bringing accounts from London down to the 
lOtli ultimo. War has commenced between the Dutch and Belgians, the latter aided 
by France and the former probably by Russia. There are facts connected with this 
•subject, which are not generally known, tending to prove that Eussia and Prussia 
■sustain Holland. "When the Conference (the Eepresentatives of the five Powers) 
-proposed the eighteen articles of final separation between Belgium and Holland, 
-Eussia and Prussia reserved their assent until Holland should accede to them. They 
were, therefore, not bound by them. On the 21st July, Holland published a sort of 
'manifesto, in which she gives her reasons for not acceding to these eighteen articles, 
endeavoring to show that they violated the previous protocol (the 20th) which set- 
tled the terms of separation, and which was, if I recollect right, dated on the 21st 
July last, and declares that the person who has assumed the throne of Belgium is 
7ier enemy. When I saw this manifesto, I had no longer a doubt of war ; and I am 
now satisfied that Prussia and Eussia when they gave their conditional assent to the 
eighteen articles (which articles, by the way, were adopted to induce the Belgians 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 229 

to choose Leopold), they well knew that Holland would not accede, and intended by 
that reservation to be saved from-the charge of a violation of good faith. 

" I fear the Eeform Bill is kept in the House of Commons, because there is a ma- 
jority in the Lords against it, and I believe it will not be sent up until that majority 
shall be changed to effect this. Exertions are making of every kind. This war will 
afford j'ou an opportunity in your message to give notice of what you shall consider 
the true policy of our country, a strict and honorable neutrality, and also to declare 
that we will protect our rights as neutrals. I think, should you take this course, 
that it would be useful to recommend to Congress to take measures to augment our 
naval force in order to sustain the position thus assumed. The eff'ect of such a 
recommendation, whether measures are taken to that end or not, will be to induce 
foreign powers to believe we are in earnest when we say we will not suffer our 
rights as neutrals to be disregarded. At the same time, it would be well to recom- 
mend a revision of those laws that have been passed to prohibit our citizens from 
engaging on either part, and to prevent the belligerents from augmenting their forces 
in our ports. These suggestions are made upon the presumption that the war is a 
general one, and are thrown out as they occur. With the truest attachment, 

" Your friend, &c." 

Martin Van Bcren to James A. Hamilton. 

"London, September 22, 1831. 

My Dear Friend: The dispatches go off in an hour or two, and I have only 
time to say to you that I had my audience yesterday, and was received to my entire 
satisfaction. If I can get settled, which is not very clear, for you can have no con- 
ception of the difficulty which is found here in suiting yourself with a house, whea 
you are obliged to consult economy and location, I will return to this subject again. 
The lieform Bill passed last night by a majority of 109. Great apprehensions are 
entertained here about the state of Paris, and I fear not without good cause. Believe 
me to be, Very truly yours, &c." 

Martin Van Burkn to James A. Hamilton. 

" London, October 14, 1831. 

'"My Dear Sir: I received yours of the 23d September this morning, and thank 
you fur it. I wrote you twice : once from here and once from Southampton. I can 
Avell conceive of your vexation arising from the characters of those with whom you 
have to act; but remember one thing — there is no public situation without its pains 
and penalties. "We feel the present and hope for better under different circumstances, 
but are generally disappointed. The only way, therefore, is to learn to disregard 
them. Judging from what I yet know, I should say that the one I now have is de- 
cidedly the most agreeable that I have ever had ; but we shall see how it turns out. 
Money — money — is the thing. I have a splendid and most agreeable house in the 
most delightful situation, and in one respect different from all my predecessors, 
nearer to the centre of business and fashion, thus affording a convenience to my 
countrymen, and giving John an opportunity to stretch his long legs in Regent street 
without previous fatigue, which he could not have done if I lived in the far west, as 
Mr. King did both times, and others after him. I pay £500 sterling for my house, 



230 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

from wliicli the taxes, say £50, are to be deducted, and it is considered very clieap, 
which was owing to particular circuinstauces. I pay about £310 for my carriage, 
and about $2600 for my servants iuchiding their board in the house, which I pay 
for so mucli a week, and thus have nothing to do with providing for them. I beg 
pardon for troubling you with these small matters, but I do so because I know you 
take some interest in them. If John does not remain long I shall be able to keep 
some of my property over, but how much is doubtful. We go, however, upon no- 
tions of strict economy. 

" I could not desire to be treated with more kindness and attention by the offi- 
cers of the Governinent, from the highest to the lowest, than I am. The King and 
Queen are evidently good people, and in all that matter I am at my ease. I have had 
some conversation with Prince Talleyrand through Mr. Vail, for he does not speak 
English. He appears disposed to be very kind. I am to dine with him to-day. He 
inquired of Mr. Vail about your mother, and said that your father was the greatest 
man that he found in America and was not surj^assed by any man in Europe, or words 
to tliat efibct. The papers will give you so full an account of the course of things 
here in regard to the Eeform Bill that it would be superfluous for me to speculate 
upon tlie subject. The Bill, or a measure of nearly the same efficiency, must pass 
and will pass, or they will have tremendous times. The comparative order which 
has bceu j'reserved is the strongest proof that could be given of the determination 
of the peoi)le. As long as the King and Ministry remain true to the principles upon 
which they now stand, civil commotion will of necessity be avoided. If they yield, 
or lose the confidence of the jjeople, the convulsion will be great and effectual. The 
church must sutler in its temporal interests in any event. Tlie vote of the Bishops 
has turned the public indignation against them — a channel which it was predisposed 
to follow. The Bishops have, I think, lost the only opportunity they will ever have 
to ward off the blows which have for a long time been imposing upon their privi- 
leges ; and I do not believe there will be one man the less in heaven if they are re- 
stricted to less on earth. You ask me about the views of the King of Holland. It 
is difficult to say Avhat they are. My own impression is, that he wishes war with 
Belgium — would fight avcH and be glad of the opportunity, if Paissia, Austria, and 
Prussia would let lam — that so long as they are not disposed for a general war he 
must he quiet ; but that his strong desire to revenge himself of the rebellious Belgians 
contributes greatly to the difficulties of arranging the subject. At this time I think, 
without doubt, that all the great powers honestly desire peace, and that, therefore, 
notwithstanding tlie militury preparations in Belgium and the short and re-pected 
suspension of the armistice, peace will be preserved. Loi'd Palmerston told me 
Wednesday that he thought they would succeed in keeping peace. The Belgian 
Minister told me the same thing, but the Dutch Special Minister Baron Von * * * 
did not speak so strongly. It must, however, be so, unless the Emperor Nicholas 
and Austria change their minds. * * * Yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to a Friend. 

" Pi'.esident's House, Washington, Oct. 21, 1831. 
"I arrived here yesterday at about 2 o'clock, and was received by the President 
with the same cordiality, and treated with the same confidence which has always 
heretofore characterized our intercourse. The best proof I can afford you of this is: 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 231 

He told me this morning I must give him an opportunity to show me such parts of 
his message as he had written. I thanl^ed him for this flattering marls of confidence 
and promised to be with him during the mornimg. All things here are going on 
very quietly and very well, although the Attorney General, Secretary of War, and 
Postmaster General are absent. McLane is absent only for a few days." 

President Jackson xo James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, November 12, 1831. 

" My Dear Sie : Yours of the 8th instant was received yesterday, with two from 
Mr. Van Buren inclosed, which I liave read with much pleasure and herewith re- 
turn to you. 

" I sincerely thank you for the information given of the intended views and plans 
of the NuUifiers in South Carolina. That there is a party in that State under a 
certain influence that would dissolve the Union rather than not eflfect their ambitious 
views, I have no doubt ; but that that influence can obtain a majority in South Caro- 
lina to eff"eet this wicked purpose I cannot permit myself for one moment to believe, 
though should the crisis arise you will find my energies equal thereto, and that tlie 
Union will he preserved. 

The valuable suggestion you have made in your letter on this subject was hap- 
pily incorporated in the project of a message prepared before the receipt of your 
letter, and from which I am hapjjy that we think so much alike upon this subject. 
Any suggestions you may please to make on this or any other interesting point or 
subject will be tliankfully received. 

" It would be too gratifying to the combination of the South to express in the 
message any fear or alarm. 

"If I judge right of the American people I think the expose I will make of 
the prosperity of the Nation and our capability, with the aid of Congress, to pay 
the National debt on the 3d March, 1833, will destroy the Nullifiers by not leaving a 
single stone for them to stand on ; and Congress will find a source of contemplation 
and action by being called upon to reduce the tarifi" to the wants of the Government 
after the debt is paid, to go into effect and operation on the 4th March, 1833. I 
must close for, indeed, I am so surrounded with business that I have no time to write 
letters. When I get my message arranged I will, if I have time to have it copied, 
send you its outlines. In the mean time, I pray you to believe that with my most 
affectionate regards, I am your friend." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Louis McLane. 

" New Yoek, November 20, 1831. 
"Dear Sir: The inclosed letter (a copy Avill be sent to the Collector) is the 
commencement of a correspondence which I fear will not be quite agreeable to you ; 
and yet I cannot withhold it, and longer submit to the course the Collector has 
thouglit proper to pursue toward me. I am perfectly willing, in order to avoid a 
state of things injurious to the public interests here, and which must be unpleasant 
to the President, to abandon my office, but so long as I hold it I am determined to 
defend my rights. I am induced, from the expressions of dissatisfaction toward 
me used by the Collector (they have come to my ears from various quarters), to 



232 REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

believe that he has taken the course now complained of as a means of avenging 
himself because I have not pressed the condemnation of the jewels. In this, although 
he may think his interests have been jeopardized, he can find no just cause of 
dissatisfoction, nor any reason to believe that I was actuated by anything but a due 
regard to my duty. AVhen it was found that the Secretary of State had sanctioned 
the application to the governor, I told the Collector that I believed it was the wish of 
the Government that Polari should be given up and that the jewels should not be 
condemned (he and 1 both entertaining the belief that the jewels were the property 
of the Princess of Orange), and advised him to write a letter to Mr. Livingston to 
ascertain how that was ; declaring at the same time that, if such was the wish of the 
President, it was our duty to acquiesce, and that I would be governed by it. He 
agreed with me, as I supposed, in these views ; requested me to write the letter, and 
said he would send it by a special messenger, which was done ; Mr. Livingstson's 
answer confirmed my belief, and I acted accordingly. This explanation is made to 
you in a private letter, not because I wish it to be withheld from the Collector or 
the President, but because I do not think it proper for the files of the Department. 

" With great respect, your friend, &c." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washtngtox, November 23, 1831. 

'• Dear Sir : I received yesterday your letters, both public and private, of the 20ih 
instant, and an official answer was immediately returned. I would have accompanied 
it with a private note but for the pressure of my official duties. I hope your suspicion 
of tlie ground of the Collector's supposed resentment will prove to be unfonnded. 
He has been uniformly advised in all the communications from this Department that 
it was not the disposition of the Government rigorously to enforce the alleged for- 
feiture of the jewels, but to facilitate their restoration to the riglitful owner in any 
manner consistent with the Constitution and the laws. The President has at no 
time, however, to my knowledge, expressed or authorized any official opinion of the 
authority or expediency of remanding Polari for trial in a foreign country, except 
so far as to say that the Executive of the United States had no authority to do so. 
All this, however, is for yourself alone. It ought not and cannot belong to the 
present state of the business. The accusations j^repared by you against the Col- 
lector require explanation, and I do not doubt that you would not wish the final 
action of the Department without such ex[ilanation, and without affording the latter 
the fullest opportunity for investigation. Indeed, he has asked for it. I have 
thought it best, however, as justice due to the Collector, first to call for his own 
explanation. When this shall be received, yon will be made acquainted with it, 
and such proceedings will be afterwards taken a^ the case may be found to require. 
I have been almost daily intending to write to you respecting the suggestions con- 
tained in your private letter of the 7th instant. I am satisfied of the propriety- of 
making the inquiry you recommend, and it may possibly be well to do so in the 
manner suggested by you, into the situation of the debtors at the Custom House, 
provided I could be enabled to select a proper person. But I have no knowledge 
of such a one, and the subject is of too much delicacy to admit of much inquiry. 
Can you point out a person in all respects qualified ? Meantime, believe me to be, 

" Your obedient servant, &c." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 233 

James A. Hamilton to tue Peesident. 

" New Yoek, November 24, 1831. 

"Dear Sie : I had the pleasure to-day to receive your letter of the 21st inst., 
referring to passages of Mr. Rhinds to me. 

" When I inclosed the letter to yon, I did not think it worth uiy wliile to comment 
upon this further evidence of the improper spirit he had so frequently manifested 
during my interviews with him in relation to the horses, and I tlierefore did not 
refer particularly to this part of his letter. 

"I know not what he refers to when he speaks of facts that he had anxiously 
studied to conceal from the public ; when there were no facts within my knowledge 
connected with his service under the Administration which required concealment, 
except his shufHing attempts to retain the horses as his private property after he 
had in an official letter, addressed to the Secretary of State, declared that he was 
ready to release to the Government all his title and interest in them. 

" I believe this was intended as a threat to induce the administration to settle 
his claim without delay — the expedient of a weak and vulgar mind. 
" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your obedient servant." 

James A. Hamilton to the President of the United States. 

"November 25, 1831. 
"Dear Sir: The inclosed letter, in reply to yours of the 21st instant^ is Avritten 
in such form as to be made public if it should be necessary. From my intercourse 
with Mr. R. in relation to the horses, I very soon found out that lie did not observe 
a very strict regard for the truth, and that it was necessary to be extremely guarded 
with him. He made various statements of Avhat you and Mr. Y.'in Buren had 
promised him, the particulars of which I do not now recollect, liut which I was 
satisfied, from other parts of his statements, his letters, and their relation to other 
facts within my knowledge, could not be true. If you will send me a copy of 
his letter I will write to him referring to that part of his letter and endeavor to as- 
certain what he has relation to as requiring to be concealed. 

" With sincere regard, your friend and servant." 

James A. Hamilton to Charles Khind, at Constantinople. 

"New York, December 7, 1831. 

"Dear Sir: Your letter of September last was received in due course of mail. 

" Subsequent dates from Commissioners induce the belief that the treaty has been 
ratified, and that the vessel you sailed in has been sold ; I hope both events will 
lead to your individual and permanent advantage. 

" The principal subject of your letter, always disagreeable to me, is not rendered 
less so by the manner you now treat it. You write, ' pardon me for saying that I 
think this ' (the refusal by the Government to pay the balance arising from the ex- 
penses of the Arabian horses beyond what they produced), ' is at least ungenerous ; 
and I do hope that the President will not compel me to make such an appeal' (to 
Congress for relief), ' inasmuch as it would compel me to disclose facts irhkh you 
Tcnow it has been my anxious wish to conceal from the puhlic.'' What the facts are to 



234 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

which you refer as within my knowledge, I cannot conceive ; and until this part of 
your letter and that also wliich refers to tlie Presidenfs pledge are explained, so 
far from the exercise of any good offices (if I have power to exercise any) on my 
part to effect a settlement t)f yonr claim, I must frankly say to you that I sh:ill be 
compelled, if I do any thing pending these tljreats, to urge the Government not to 
adjust tliis claim. 

" I hope to have the pleasure ere long to hear from you again on this subject, and 
to find that the irritation under which the letter to which this is a reply was written, 
occasioned, no doubt, by your then recent advices that your claims had not been 
paid, having subsided, you are enabled to look at all the events connected with this 
transaction as they truly were— frank, fair, and honorable on the part of the Execu- 
tive Government. 

" I remain, your obedient servant." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" December 12, 1831. 

"Dear Sib: I am happy to find by your letter of the 8th instant that my message 
suits your views in common with my friends generally in New York. In relation 
to the Bank, I thought it useless to make an unnecessary repetition of the objections 
which were stated in my former messages, as some of my friends are persuaded 
that something more explicit than has been stated would have had a good effect in 
preventing an error into which some have fallen, to wit, that I have changed my 
ground on that subject. A superficial reading of Mr. McLane's report was also cal- 
culated to lead to the same false conclusion. But it is now generally admitted, I 
think, after a considerate examination of Mr. McLane's views, that he does not ex- 
press any opposition to those entertained by myself; although it is obvious that his 
solicitude to obtain a new cliarter so modified as to free tlie institution from the 
objections of the Executive, springs from convictions much more favorable than 
mine of the general character and conduct of the institution. 

" Mr. McLane and myself understand each other, and have not the slightest dis- 
agreement about the principles, which will be a sine qua non in my assent to a bill 
recharteriug the Bank. 

" Believe me to be, most sincerely your friend." 



^D 



Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"London, December 14, 1831. 

"My Dear Sir: You are right in your impression as to the reluctance with 
which I receive information like that contained in your last, thinking it better to be 
deceived occasionally than to be forever harassed by accounts of the infidelity of 
friends; but the case you refer to constitutes an exception. If feelings of the charac- 
ter you suppose exist in that quarter, it is of vital importance that I should know 
it ; and you have acted in that spirit of friendship which has always characterized 
your conduct in bringing the matter to my notice. I beg, therefore, that you will 
in your next, give me the reasons on which your apprehensions are founded, with, 
as far as you may, the sources from whence your information is derived. I must in 
candor admit that I have at no time placed a special confidence there, and relied 
rather upon the absence of a reasonable motive and uniform kindness on my part for 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A HAMILTON. 235 

my security against infidelity ; and I yet hope tliere is some mistake upon tlie sub- 
ject. The papers inform you so fully as to what is going on here, that it would be 
useless for me to speculate upon political matters. I believe the Editors of the 
Times and Courier are in general about as well informed as any here who are not 
immediate actors in the operation of the government. The Keform Bill will, with- 
out doubt, pass, and tlie King will, if necessary, create the requisite number of new 
Peers. Of this there is, I think, no room for question. The ministry are respecta- 
ble in their own characters, and derive great strength from the false position in 
which their principal opponents have placed themselves by their opposition to re- 
form. I shall not be surprised if, owing to this circumstance, the Whigs keep posses- 
sion of the government for some time to come. Were it not for that consideration 
the course would be different, for it is not to be doubted that a Tory ministry is not 
only more congenial with royalty in general, but greatly preferred, if not by the 
King himself, certainly by the great body of the Royal family, as well as those in 
this counti-y — who from tiiue immemorial have surrounded tlie throne. The best 
disposition exists here toward our country, and I make it my business, as it is my 
duty, to preserve cordial relations with the prominent men on both sides — a branch 
of my duty in which I do not find myself entirely at home — having been all my life 
wholly on one side. 

Tlie elections in New York have resulted most auspiciously and must operate as 
a damper upon the opposition. I am every day more and more confirmed in the 
propriety of the step I have taken, and every thing is w^orking as I expected. See 
the friends of Clay, Cal'.ioun, "Wirt, Adams, and Rush assailing each other with un- 
ceasing acrimony. Th's will grow worse before it is better. If. I had remained, 
they would have been directing all their artillery, as heretofore, against me in utter 
disregard of the public interest. You see an evident leaning in the prominent 
papers here against the President. This grows in part out of the interest wliich is 
felt here by the stockholders in the Bank of the United States, and partly from the 
fact that almost all the papers that are taken here are those of the opposition. A 
discreet and temperate article upon this subject in the Evening Post might be of use, 
setting forth in a calm and lucid manner their ignorance of American politics and 
the injustice of their judging of the character and views of the President by the 
calumnies of his enemies instead of the open and oflScial acts of his administration." 

"William B. Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, 1st January, 1832. 
" Dear Sir : Your letter of the 28th ult. was received by yesterday's mail, and 
I thank you for what you have done w^ith regard to Noah and the Bank. Your in- 
terview with him I have no doubt w-ill be productive of good. It has given him 
some imeasiness, and convinced him, I have no doubt, of the necessity of caution on 
his part. There is no other way of managing such people. I received a letter from 
him yesterday, denying that he has written any article upon the subject of the Bank, 
and promising to do his best to keep things right. Well, perhaps he will now, and 
if he has any influence over Webb, it is probable that the Courier and Enquirer will 
cease to discuss the Bank question. The article spoken of in my letters of the 23d 
and 24th was calculated, if Blair had replied, to do McLnne irreparable injniy in a 
political point of view ; because it might have brought him and the President in 



236 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

seeming collision, whicli must have proved of serious injury to him, ami would have 
been of no benefit to the administration. The Enquirer praises Mr. McLane and his 
Keport, and yet they are i)ursiiing a course well calculated to destroy him. I have 
acknowle.lged tlie receipt of Major Noah's letter, but my answer is cautious and 
guarded though written in much haste, I beg of him to let the question rest until 
after the next Presidential election, when it can be taken up and acted on as a finan- 
cial, not a political measure. I advise this course, I tell him, not only as his and 
Webb's friend, but as a friend to the Bank itself— that I have always been in favor 
ofa National Bank of some description, and should not object to the rechartering 
this present Bank Avith niodifications. These are substantially my remarks to him 
upon that subject. I have noted your remarks with regard to a project of get- 
ting up a new Bank with less objectionable features than the present, and am deci- 
dedly in favor of carrying it into etTect in case the friends of the present United 
States Bank should press for an extension of its charter this Session. I am of opin- 
ion, though, it would bo best not to take any steps in relation to the matter until we 
know what is intended to be done by the friends of the Bank. If they should deter- 
mine to press the subject, I will advise you of it immediately. 

" Truly thine, &c." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

""Washington, January 3, 1832. 
<'DeakSip. : I received today your letter of the 1st instant, marked 'private.' 
It is necessary that the facts disclosed relative to the suits against the Collector 
should be othcially communicated and without delay. My decision upon your late 
complaint against the Collector has been suspended, in consequence of my illness with 
iufiuenza. Of the contents of the 'lost letter ' lean know nothing as I never re- 
ceived it. But it is certain that no part of my correspondence with Mr. Van Buren 
will authorize the slanderous rumors to which you alkide. In all these cases, how- 
ever, I am very much of the same opinion with Lord Mansfield that, though a pub- 
lic man could with a single dash of his pen refute the s'anders of the newspapers, 
it Avould be unwise in him to do so. Slanders of this sort multiply in proportion as 

they are refuted. 

" I am, dear sir, &c." 

James A. Hamilton, U. S. DIst. Atty. to Hox. Louis McLane, Secretary 

of Treasury. 

"New York, January 10, 1832. 
" Siu: In obedience to your instructions of the 12th ultimo, in order to take up 
to the Supreme Court the question whether the Marshal or the Collector is entitled 
to the possession of the jewels, &c., I prepared the inclosedcase which was sub- 
mitted to Judges Thompson and Betts, and approved by them. This mode of pro- 
ceeding — so prompt so easy, and so little expensive — I regret to say, is frustrated 
by the advice of the counsel employed by the Marshal, whose written opinion, with 
a letter from the Marshal, I herewith inclose to you. I have endeavored in vain to 
point out the fallacy of this opinion, and now the only mode left to me is to institute 
an adversary suit, and to that end the Collector should be instructed not to give the 
property seized by him voluntarily to the Marshal. In order to maintain trespass 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 237 

or trover, it is necessary that the property should be forcibly taken from the posses- 
sion of the plaintiff. 

" "With great respect, your obedient serv't, &c.'' 

Presidext Andrew Jackson to Col. James A. Hamiltox (Private). 

""Washington, January 18, 1832. 
'■My Dear Sir: I have just received your note, (confideatia],) and on its receipt 
adilressed a note to the Postmaster General, directing tbe precaution intimated by 
you. I tliinkitthe only way by which tlie Government will be secure. If it is 
true that your Postmaster has lost the sum of forty thousand dollars, and the di- 
rections I have given that his accounts be kept in the United States Bank, the checks 
on the Post oflSce fund specifying the olject of the check may guard him against 
the temptation to apply the public funds to meet his private engagements. "With my 
respects to your family, I ain very respectfully, your friend, &c." 

President Andrew Jackson to Col, James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, January 27, 1832. 
"My Dear Sir: ***** The factious opposition in the Senate rejected 
the nomination of Mr. "V^anBuren day before yesterday hy the casting vote of ffieVice- 
Preddent. I am told that Miller, of South Carolina, made one of the most disgrace- 
ful speeches that ever were heard in any deliberative body. The injunction of secre- 
cy has been taken off, and lam told we will have the speeches published. The in- 
jury done to our national character by their wanton act, in all Europe, is an account 
that the people have to settle with the Senate who has brought this disgrace and in- 
jury upon us. I mean the factious opposition who have degraded that august 
body, once the admiration of the world, lower than a Spanish inquisition, and 
from report of Miller's speech has changed the debates in the Senate to that Of — I 
cannot find an epithet that will convey a proper idea of its blackguardism and de- 
merit. While I mourn over the degradation that the factious opposition has brought 
the Senate, still I cannot lielp but rejoice at the proper indignant feeling expressed 
by the public at this cruel and unjust act. It is, I am told, universal, except the op- 
position, and nothing is spoken of but redress of Mr. "Van Buren's injured feelings 
and the insult offered to our Government, by placing Van Buren Vice-President by 
acclamation. I suppose thejournals will speak." 

William B. Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, January 29, 1832. 
" My Dear Sib : You will have seen, my friend, that the Senate has rejected Mr. 
Van Buren's nomination ; but instead of disgracing him as was intended they have 
disgraced themselves and inflicted a wound upon our National character. I do not 
know what course his friends will advise, but it strikes me that, unless there is a 
strong probability, amounting almost to certainty, that he can complete the arrange- 
ment with regard to tlie impressment of our seamen, he ought to come heme imme- 
diately. If in the meantime Congress should not have adjourned, Mr. Dudley 
might resign, which I have no doubt he would cheerfully do, and Mr. Van Buren 



238 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

could take liis place, meet liis slanderers face to face, and assist in modifying the 
tariff wliich would add very much to his popularity in the South. Tiiis would not 
interfere with his running with the General as Vice-President, and I think there is 
hut little douht the Baltimore Convention will take him up and nominate him as a 
candidate. There is mucli excitement here upon the subject of his rgection— every 
person condenms the conduct of the Senate, and I think there is a probability of 
the excitement increasing. I tliink it probable that some pretty strong measures 
will be adopted in relation to this matter. The speeches are in course of publica- 
tion, but they will not be published as delivered. Some of them were not only 
hitter, but contained the most vulgar and blackguard expressions which, I suppose, 
the authors will endeavor to suppress. Governor Forsyth acquitted himself nobly, 
I am told, and deserves a medal of gold, lie made, it is said, the gentleman in the 
chair, as well as the head of the opposition faction, very uneasy for a while. His 
speech will be published. The President's health is quite restored again. 

" Sincerely yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Andrew Jackson. (Private.) 

" "New York, January 29, 1832. 
" Dear Sir : I have the honor to inclose a list of causes which have been con- 
tested and tried by me since I have been in office. This statement is made for your 
eye alone, as I do not wish to vaunt what I have done. As far as I can learn Mr. 
Duer tried but two civil causes ; one of which was left for me to argue, and the 
other was compromised or settled. "With great regard, 

" Your obedient servant, &c." 

By the list of causes it appears that Hamilton tried six causes which were 
commenced in 1822 ; and twenty-two commenced by him and decided during 
the two years and eight months he held the office. 

William C. Rives to James A. Hamilton. 

" Paris, January 31, 1832. 

"My Dear Sir: I have been wishing and intending to write to you for a long 
time past, hut a variety of circumstances have concurred to prevent me. I need not 
tell you how highly gratified I was by the warm and cordial language of friendship 
in your letter of September last, on the occasion of the close of my arduous labors 
here. Coming from one so capable (from a thorough knowledge of past negotiations 
on the subject) of appreciating what had been done, the sanction of your judgment 
was a testimony peculiarly valuable ; and the warm spirit of personal friendship 
which animated it, though it might well detract from its impartiality in the eyes of 
others, only rendered it more precious in mine. 

" You will see that we are still in a provisionary state in the old world — noth- 
ing fixed, and minds still unquiet and apprehensive as to the future. The question 
of war is still that which occupies most of the public anxiety. Though I have al- 
ways thought that it must ultimately come to that, as the necessary arbitrament be- 
tween the antagonistic principles of popular sovereignty and divine right which the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 239 

revolution of July put ' en face ^ yet I think it likely the struggle may be adjourned 
another ye.ir. While England and France act in cordial concert as they now do, of 
which a new proof has just been given in their simultaneous exchange of ratifica- 
tions of the Treaty of 15th November with the King of Belgium, the Northern 
Powers will be too wise to provoke a war. In the present state of things, however, 
everything depends on the continuance in power of the present ministries both here 
and in England. A change of ministry in either country, if not the signal of imme- 
diate war, would, in my opinion, inevitably lead to it at a very early day. This 
consideration gives a double interest to the very critical position in which Lord 
Grey and his colleagues are now placed in England. The spirit and power of the 
aristocracy must be met by corresponding determination and vigor on the part of 
the ministry, or they must fall, and with them the hopes of internal tranquility 
and of foreign peace. 

" The opposition with us, I see, is not less bold than in the land of our ancestors. 
I cannot believe, however, that in all the wantonness of their power in the Senate 
they will do so mad an act as to frustrate the nomination of Mr. Van Buren, which 
would inevitably recoil upon themselves with overwhelming condemnation. What, 
however, I shall not be surprised to see is, that without absolutely rejecting the 
Treaty made here, they return it with some modifications, the effect of which will be 
the same ; for this government would be too happy to have such an excuse to get 
rid of the whole affair which is likely to embarrass them very seriously with the 
Chambers, and has already called forth some very severe criticisms from the press. 
It is the stipulation about the duties on French wines, I see, which the newspaper 
opposition has fastened upon as incompatible with the established principles of our 
commercial policy. Without entering into the special motives of this stipulation 
which have never been adverted to in the newspaper discussions I have seen (and 
which you know was to get rid of a most embarrassing claim to perpetual privileges 
under the Treaty of Louisiana that had heretofore thwarted all the negotiations for 
indemnity to our citizens — a claim which the late administration had most unwisely 
proposed to refer to arbitration, involving thus the risk of a decision which Mr. 
Gallatin, in his letter of February 27th, 1828, to Mons. Chateaubriand, most sat- 
isfactorily shows would put it in the power of France to monopolize the whole car- 
riage of the commerce with Louisiana ; without entering into these considerations, 
it may be well to recollect what advantages Mr. Adams himself had proposed to 
stipulate in favor of French wines and other productions of French industry, for 
mere reciprocity in navigation which Great Britain and other nations had agreed to, 
from the inherent justice of the principle, and without thinking of demanding any 
price for the agreement. With this view, I inclose you an extract from a note of 
Mr. Adams to Mr. De Neuville, of April 26th, 1821. Taa '• special'' accommoda- 
tions to the ' principal exports of France;' 'the gr-eat advantages granted to the 
commerce and manufactures of France,' there spoken of to be paid for by the mere 
principle of recijjrocity in navigation were, as appears from a preceding note of 
April 18th, a reduction of the duties on French wines, 'to ten cents a g.nllon in 
casks, and twenty cents in bottles,' and an increase of the discriminating duty on 
silks imported from the Cape of Good Hope ' to thirty per cent.' Now it is to be 
remarked that the reduction of duties here proposed by Mr. Adams for the princi- 
ple of recipymij/ which is always supposed to pay for itself, is relatively much 
greater than that which I agreed to for a renunciation of perpetual privileges of an 



240 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

important character claimed by virtue of an antecedent Treaty, and for a correspond- 
ing reduction of duties on one of our own products. Mr. Adams was willing to reduce 
the duties on French wines in bottles, for example, to twenty cents, when the existing 
duty on a portion of those wines (Champagne and Burgundy) were one hundred cents ; 
when the reduction stipulated by me was only to twenty-two cents at a time when 
the duty was fixed at thirty cents ; and so as to other points of the comparison which 
on reference to the existing laws of tlie two epochs will enable you to see in detail. It 
may be safely left to any candid mind to say, which of these two arrangements depart 
most widely from the real or supposed principles of our commercial policy. It may be 
said in regard to Mr. Adams' proposition, that for these commercial advantages to be 
granted by us, he required also an abolition of the monopoly on our tobacco in France. 
But this, although a part of the project of April 18th, 1821, was evidently abandoned 
and reciprocity m navigation only demanded, as appears very clearly from the last 
sentence of the extract inclosed, and still more unequivocally from his note of May 
11th, 1821, where he says, ' either the commercial concessions must be set aside, 
&c., &c., or if taken into the account, being all in favor of France, they must be 
compensated either by commercial concessions to the United States, or by entire 
reciprocity in the article relative to navigation.' I have inclosed you this extract 
and given you these explanations that you might be enabled if you thought proper, 
with the discretion you always exercise, to counteract through the medium of the 
press, any misrepresentations or false views which might be attempted to the preju- 
dice of the administration. I remain, Very truly your friend. &c." 

Extract of a Note of Mr. Adams of 26th April, 1821, to Monsieur De 

Neuville. 

" Whatever disadvantages the French Navigation may labor under in competi- 
tion with that of the United States are believed to be within control for removal. 
Nevertheless, the opinion of the French Government on the subject, being stated by 
the Baron Ue Neuville to be irrevocably fixed, the President has been willing to 
meet any supposed disadvantage to France in such an arrangement by advantages 
thought to be fully equivalent for them to the agriculture, commerce, and manufac- 
tures of France. In the minutes of a project, first presented by the Baron De Neu- 



^l^ ranee to tne united states, and otrier Oenejits to i^rencn mteresis, an km. wuiun « eiu 
assented to by tlie President to the extent proposed by the Baron himself. In return 
for these concessions, he had reason to expect some concession on the part of France, 
in which, however, he has thus far been disappointed. He thought that with such great 
advantcKjes granted to the commerce and manufactures of France^ the least that woiild 
he required in return was that rccij)rocity which should discard all discriminating 
duties upon the mere carriage of the trade.'''' 

C. C. Cambreling to James A. Hamilton. 

" WAsniNGTON, D. C, February 9, 1832. 
"Mt Dear Sir : I have your esteemed letter of the 4th inst. I thought, on re- 
flection, that our friend Y. B. had better return as soon as possible, so as to address 
the Union upon his triumi)lial entry at New York about the 1st of May ; but without 
any idea of going into the Senatorial cockpit. 

" If he is not our V. P., then he must go into the Senate; but not till then. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 241 

"I have written as you have directed; others have written to the General. L. 
told me so. 

" Very truly, yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to E. Croswell. 

" New Yoek, February 11, 1832. 

'•Dear Sir: I have just received a letter from Washington from such a source 
as to entitle it to all confidence and consideration, expressing a wish that our Legisla- 
ture would pass a resolution requesting the Governor, on behalf of the State, to ad- 
dress a letter to tlie President relative to Van Buren's nomination ; and giving the 
assurance that an answer would be given which would have a most powerful and 
overwhelming eftect. I most earnestly unite with the writer in wishing that such a 
step, if it be possible, might be taken. And why may it not ? The Senate, a branch 
of the Government coordinate with the President, has condemned a person — a citizen 
of New York, in whom the people and the Legislature have manifested a deep in- 
terest and the fullest confidence — avowedly for misconduct in his office; and as mani- 
festly without full information on the subject which is the foundation of that chnrge. 
The President has the information ; and what good reason can there be why such an 
application should not be made? You will agree with me that the attempt ought 
not to be made without certain success. You will also see that such a course will 
excite deep and intense interest; that we want: we require the opposition papers 
to teem with abuse of us ; and particularly that they should do so because we seeh 
information. You will also readily admit that such an answer as might be given 
in relation to the instructions and the dissolution of the Cabinet, under the Pres- 
ident's own hand, would be powerful — nay, invincible. I am further informed that 
great exertions are being made, and with some appearance of success, in Pennsylva- 
nia, Alabama, and elsewhere; and we are called upon to do all we can without and 
something with hazard. Let me hear from you in reply as soon as you have re- 
ceived this letter; at all events to inform me that you have received it. I dare not 

write to any other friend. 

"Yours, &c." 

After Van Buren's nomination as Minister to England was rejected, by the 
casting vote of Calhoun, I wrote to Van Buren's political friends, most earnestly 
urging them to bring him forward as a candidate for Vice-President at the 
approaching Presidential election, Jackson being the candidate for President. 

In reply to a letter I addressed to Wm. L. Marcy, a Senator from New York, 
urging Van Buren's nomination, he wrote : 

"Washingtox, February 7, 1832. 

" Your advice is good that we should not look back but direct our attention to 
the future * * * There is here scarcely a dissenting opinion as to the policy of 
pushing Van Buren for Vice-President, and I am sorry to hear from Albany that 
our friends there do not fall in with that idea. They think of making him Govcrncr. 
This, in ray judgment, is a mistaken notion. It is unnecessarily circumscribing the 
influence of an act which naturally operates beneficially in every part of the Union." 
16 



242 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Cambreling in reply writes : 

'"Washixgtou, January 31, 1832. 

"My Dkae Sir : There is but a plain course for Mr. Van Buren : the Vice-Presi- 
dency, We must be universal and strong in favor of Van Buren. * * * Write to 
Van Buren and tell him not to adopt McLane's bad plan for him, to come home in 
a hurry and go into the Senate. Let us receive him in triumph in June. He must 
act with dignity." 

E. Croswell to James A. Hamilton. 

" Albany, February, 1832. 
" My Dear Sir: On the receipt of your favor of the 11th inst., the respective let- 
ters on the part of the Committees of the Legislature and the citizens to be addressed 
to the President were in a train of preparation. And in compliance with your sug- 
gestion and with a similar one from Judge Marcy received at the same time, they were 
both so written as to give the President an opportunity to say everything on the subject 
that he may desire, or that the circumstances may demand. This, on the whole, was 
deemed to be th^best course. In this shape it is the unanimous act of the republic- 
an members of the legislature, as well as of the republican citizens of the Capital. 
At best, if the proceeding had been made a legislative act, it could have had, of 
course, only the republican votes ; and it was questioned whether an opportunity ought 
to be afforded the opposition to debate the question, and perhaps protract a decision 
upon it. The letters were inclosed to the President by last night's mail. In rela- 
'tion to the Vice-Presidency, about which I ought and designed to have written you 
n>efore this, there is still some, indeed, considerable diversity of opinion among our 
■friends here, and so far as I learn throughout the State. At first, scarcely a friend 
■of ours was in favor of the nomination of Mr. Van Buren for that place. But your 
Jletters and those of the delegation at "\^'ashington (with a few exceptions), and the 
;assurances in relation to Pennsylvania and Virginia, have produced a visible change. 
The objections to the Vice-Presidency, came from two causes, one legitimate and 
■entitled to all consideration, the other less so, and more or less selfish or local. 
1st, The intrinsic objections to the office, the uncertainty and embarrassments of the 
•election, the ground of lasting hostility in Pennsylvania if not Virginia, and its injuri- 
ous consequences in relation to the great ultimate object. 2d, The desire to relieve 
■the liome question of all difficulty, and to preserve and augment our local strength by 
Mr. Van Buren's election as Governor. With these considerations pressed upon us 
on the one hand— with the strong, and as I think, conclusive arguments from yourself 
.and our friends at Washington on the other, we have endeavored to prevent any 
■ excessive feeling on either side ; and to present the matter in such a shape as will 
produce a ready and cordial acquiescence in any result. I am happy to say that such 
is the present state of things generally. I do not mean to be understood that in 
•either event, or whatever may be the shape in which Mr. Van Buren shall come be- 
fore the people, there is a republican in the State that will not come to his support 
with alacrity; but it has been thought best so to present the matter as to prevent, 
.as far as possible, any portion of our friends from giving him much support for the 
Vice-Presidency, under the conviction, at the same time, that it was a step prejudicial 
•.to his ultimate interests and the expectations of the State. I have only time to add 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 243 

that I sliall be happy to hear from you at all times, and that I remain, with great 
regard, 

" Yours, &c." 

William B, Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

1832. 
"I received a letter yesterday from Mr. Flagg, of Albany. Our friends there are 
all wrong. They talk of running Mr. Van Buren for Governor of the State. If any- 
thing of that kind is contemplated, they had better cut his throat at once. If the 
party do not seize the present occasion for bringing him prominently before the 
Nation^ he will, in my opinion, inevitably go down as a politician. If the Republican 
party cannot, under existing circumstances, make him Vice-President, they need 
never look to the Presidency for him. This, ray dear sir, is my opinion, and it is the 
opinion of many of our best friends. The Cabinet is unanimously in favor of run- 
ning him, and such is the feeling of all our friends everywliere. I think you had 
better go to Albany and have this matter put right. The thing is resolved on here, 
and every true friend should come out boldly. It will not do, in times like the pres- 
ent, to halt between two opinions. There should be no temporizing. Public feeling 
is with us. In this I cannot be mistaken. Do not, therefore, let us lose so glorious 
an opportunity of strengthening and consolidating the party. 

" I am, as usual, your sincere friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton" to a Friend. 

" Washington, March 14, 1802. 

" Of politics there is nothing of particular, but a great deal of general interest. The 
unpatriotic spirit manifested here, renders me impatient and unhappy. The opposi- 
tion are so bent upon pulling down this administration, that to do so they are 
anxious to frustrate every measure, however deeply it may wound our beautiful sys- 
tem. The anxious wish of the administration is to make a compromise in relation 
to the Tariff, and Mr. McLane says he will furnish a bill in that spirit which ought 
to be passed ; but I much fear nothing will be done. The South Carolina members, 
it is believed, will oppose such a course, lest by tranquilizing their own State, they 
should lose their political influence and control. If this is so, they, with the aid of 
the high tariff, will control, and God knows what will be the issue. The 
Bank is evidently losing friends, and should the enquiry which is called for by those 
who are opposed to it be instituted, no bill will be passed this Session. On the 
other hand, should that enquiry not be made successfully and a Bank bill be passed, 
the President will most certainly veto it. lie is open and determined on this point. 
I conferred with him yesterday on the subject. I told him what the opposition 
avowed as their motive for pushing the bill during the Session. lie replied, ' I will 
prove to them that I never flinch ; that they were mistaken when they expected to 
act upon me by such considerations.' 

" I will, in this connection, as to the Bank, make the following statement of facts 
within my own knowledge. McLane told me that he had most earnestly urged Mr. 
Clay not to attempt to pass a Bank bill at this Session, insisting that, if deferred to the 
next Session, he was satisfied that he could by that time, and by a Bank bill so framed 
as would be as useful as was necessary, induce Jackson to approve it. But that Clay 



244 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

persisted in the hope that, if the President approved the bill, he would lose the sup- 
port of those of his party who had approved his opposition to the Bank, and a 
vast many others who approved of the State Bank system. And, on the other 
hand, if the President vetoed the bill, he would lose Pennsylvania and his elec- 
tion. This was the true view of the whole subject, and it was to the effect of his 
veto upon Pennsylvania to which he referred." 

Pkestdent Andrew Jackson to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

"March 28, 1832. 

" My Dear Sir : Your letter of the 25th instant has just reached me. The affairs 
of the Bank I anticipated to be precisely such as you have intimated. "When fully 
disclosed, and the branches looked into, it will be seen that its corrupting influence 
has been extended everywhere that could add to its strength and secure its rechart- 
er. T wish it may not have extended its influence over many memhers of Congress. 
I wish this for the honor of our beloved country. Ours is a government based upon 
the virtue and intelligence of the people, and every temptation should be kept as far 
from us in pulJie life as possible, and all our acts and endeavors ought to be to mor- 
alize, not demoralize, the people. 

" No Minister to England will be nominated until Mr. Van Buren returns, and 
perhaps not before the next meeting of Congress ; and I have not permitted myself 
to think of iiis successor. If Mr. Rives returns, and when he returns, I will send a 
Minister to France. Mr. E. Livingston has his eye on this mission, but it will re- 
quire some deep reflection — his place would be hard to fill — and before it is made 
vacant, a proper selection must be made. When I see you I will he more able to 
give you my views. No sl,ep will be taken in either until Mr. Van Buren arrives. 

"Believe me to be your friend, &c,'' 

Martin Van Buren to James A, Hamilton. 

"London, April 1, 18S2. 

"My Dear Sir: I owe you, with many other friends, an apology for not having 
written to you, but I know I can trust to your good sense and good feeling for not 
having made you an exception. I am off for Paris in the morning, and write this 
principally to say that I have sent by the Sovereign, Captain Champlin, to your 
care, three boxes, Nos, 13, 24, and 25, containing plate and private papers, which I 
beg you to keej) for me till my return. The treatment which I have received from 
the King, his Ministers, and all the foreign functionaries here, since the announce- 
ment of my rejection, has been of the most kind and delicate character, and has, I 
confess, been very gratifying. 

" Yours, &c." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, April 16, 1832. 
"My Dear Sir: I received your letter recommending Captain Webb, and am 
now engaged examining the long roll of applicants for the Ordnance Department. 
Have not yet come to a final conclusion of what selection will be made. I received 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 245 

yonr last of the lltli instant, and sincerely regretted to hear of the niolanoholy 
attack of Mr. Noah — hope he has recovered, as I have heard notliing from him since. 
I beg yon to hasten the return of my manuscript-book.* I wish to he ready the 
first opportunity that may present to make the reply. Fail not to have it here 
soon, 

" I am, very respectfully, yours, «&c." 

Louis McLane to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, April 29, 1832. 
" Dear Sir : I received, the day before yesterday, your letter respecting the 
President's manuscript. I can conceive of no possible good that could attend such 
a step in the present posture of affairs, and I am satisfied that it would be productive 
of unhappiness to the President, and of incalculable injury to his cause and his 
friends. It would be most unwise, at the present time, to make any issue between 
the President and the individual principally concerned. It ought properly to have 
no concern with the coming struggle, and for the purpose of personal and historical 
satisfaction, a period less disturbed by party and political strife will be much more 
favorable. I doubt if you could do Mr. Calhoun a greater favor than to make an 
issue in which he would see some hope of resuscitation. We already have causes 
of inquietude enough, and this would tend to increase them. I speak without going 
more into details, from my unfeigned interest in the President, and an earnest desire 
to promote his individual happiness and public renown; and I shall feel it to be my 
bounden duty if he will permit me to counsel him to peace and tranquility to exert 
his mind and patriotism to restore harmony to his country, and advance tlie pros- 
perity of his fellow-citizens, and to leave the gratification of his individual feelings, 
and even the vindication of his just military fame, to a fitter opportunity. Rely 
upon it that our policy is not to be provoked into angry collisions by the coarseness 
and violence of our opponents. Theirs is a desperate cause, as that of a factious and 
feeble minority always is. Ours is the cause of the mnjority of the people, and will 
become weak when we lose our temper or dignity. Let us rely upon the wisdom 
and patriotism of our measures, and avoid, as far as possible, all individual jars. 

" I am, dear sir, respectfully, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Louis McLane. 

"New York, May 6, 1832. 
" My Dear Sir: I have not had a moment's time to acknowledge your letter of 
the 29th ultimo, and I caunot now reply to it further than to say, that if it is not 
absolutely certain that he is to gain by the publication a positive advantage, it 
ought not to be made. I agree with you as to our position and tlie course to be i)ur- 
sued, and after giving the subject further consideration, if my former convictions are 
changed to doubts, which is almost already done by the fact tliat you difler from 
me, I will write to the President as you suggest. I do not learn from your letter 



* Reply to Calhoun, sor.t to me to be examined, with a request that I would revise 
and correct it. I did so, and urgently advised him not to publish. I believe it was not 
published. 



246 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

whether you are informed of the scope of the manuscript. I visited Washington in 
relation to tlie Bruen business. I intended to have conferred freely with you on 
this subject, and also in relation to the Custom House concerns, which, I think, in 
i^any respects require attention, but which cannot be so well explained by letter. 

"The expected failures have commenced. Three were announced on Friday; 
and several intimated yesterday. The difficulty of obtaining money, although very 
great, is increasing dnily. The bonds of Peterson & March — a failure of a month 
ago — are now becoming due, and all the parties — tTiree foreign Consuls — have run 
away. The debt is about $30,000. 

" With sincere regards, yours, &c." 



James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" New Yoek, June 15, 1832. 

"Mt Dear Sir: As it is understood that the opponents of compromise intend to 
call upon our Legislature to pass resolutions which Avill aid them, it becomes there- 
fore the duty of the friends of Union and your Administration to defeat that at- 
tempt, and to endeavor to induce the Legislature to pass resolutions in favor of com- 
promise. To that end, I intend to go to Albany and spend a few days there during 
the Session. I feel assured if nothing is done to promote, something will be done to 
frustrate, our wishes. 

" The state of things in England is such as I have supposed might render it 
deserving of consideration whether we ought not to be represented there in a 
stronger manner than we now are. Should there be revolution, an American Min- 
ister of talent and character, without improper interference, could do much to ben- 
efit both countries, and the liberal party will feel that they have a right to such a 
measure at your hands. 

"I always feel at liberty to communicate any suggestions that occur to me, with- 
out fearing the imputation _/?•(?)« you of improper interference. 

" "With the truest attachment, your servant and friend, &c." 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, July 15, 1832. 

" My Dear Sir : I have only time to say a word to you in behalf of my old 
friend the Chevalier. Do not let the cholera kill his man of jewels, and answer Mr. 
Livingston's letter as soon as you can. I am very anxious that the application which 
has been made by the Dutch Government should succeed,* if it can be with propriety 
so arranged, and I am sure it will give you j-leasure to contribute all in your power. 
The Tariff Bill has passed under the most favorable circumstances. The Bank Bill 
has this moment failed by a vute of 19 to 23. The veto is operating powerfully as 
far as we hear, and the Session is winding up finally. My arrival could not have been 
more opportune, and 1 have thus far been highly gratified with my visit here. Re- 
member me kindly to Mrs. II. and the young ladies, and believe me to be, 

"Very truly yours, &c." 

* To send Polari, the thief, to Ilolland. It was done. 



UEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 247 

James A. Hamilton, U. S. District Attorney, to V, Maxey, Solicitor of the 

Treasury. 

"New Yo'K, July 27, 1832. 
"Sik: The persons confined at Bellevue Prison, charged with offences against 
the United States (Poiari excepted), ten in number, were discharged on the 25th 
inst. on their own recognizances. Judge Belts, on heing informed of tlie course I 
intended to pursue in relation to these men, wrote to me thus: ' I am glad you have 
concluded to discharge tlie prisoners. The hazard to life in Iceeping them in close 
confinement must be imminent, and I do not believe the character of their oftences 
would justify to the public feeling so dangerous an exposure.' Tlie disease is dimin- 
ishing in the city, but extending to every part of the country. I sincerely hope you 
may, but I do not believe you will, escape it. Your obedient servant, &c." 

Martin Van Buhen to James A. Hamilton. 

" KiNDEEnooK, August 5, 1832. 

"My Dear Sir: Your letter is received. I found the old chief laboring under 
his veto, but the moment he was delivered of it he Avas, as usual, perfectly at his 
ease and in the best of spirits. It is most clear that that is destined to be the most 
popular act of his life. You can have no conception of the universal interest which 
the great body of the people take in this matter, and the almost uniform side they 
also take. I have seen the bitterest of his opponents who feel constrained to 
speak well of it. Things are going on very well at Washington. Mr. Livingston 
goes to France as soon as Mr. Rives leaves it. The Maine business is in as favor- 
able a train as circumstances permit. It would not; be discreet to trust to the mail, 
at these times, more explicit replies to some of your queries. We must, therefore, 
let them be until I have the pleasure of seeing you. The election prospects are 
generally good. Pennsylvania is as safe as Tennessee. If I am to judge by the speci- 
mens of public feeling which I have seen, or the I'epresentations of our friends, I 
should say that we are quite safe here. Nothing, however, that can with propriety 
be done, should be omitted." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton". 

" November 2, 1832. 

"My Dear Sir: I have just received your letter of the 30th ult. for which I 
thank you. 

"I am well advised of the views and proceedings of the great leading Nullifiers 
of the South in my native State (S. 0.}, and weep for its fate, and over the delusion 
into which the people are led by the wickedness, ambition, and folly of their leaders. 
I have no doubt of the intention of their leaders: first to alarm the other States, 
that they may submit to their views rather than a dissolution of the Union should 
take place. If they fail in this, to cover their own disgrace and wickedness to nul- 
lify the Tariff" and secede from the Union. 

" We are wide awake here. The Union will he preserved; rest assured of this. 
There has been too much blood and treasure shed to obtain it, to let it bo surren- 
dered without a struggle ; our liberty and that of the whole world rest upon it, as 



248 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

well as the peace, prosperit}', and happiness of these United States. It must he per- 
petuated. I have no time to say more. My health is good, improved by the travel. 
" With a teuder of my kind salutations to you and your amiable family, 

'• I am, feincerely your friend." 

Mautin Van Bukex to James A. Hamilton. 

"November 16, 1832. 

" My Deae Sir : I am sorry you c;innot go witli us, but your business is of more 
importance. I think they could have no objection to pay up. * * * has received 
his, and has, I presume, no objection to be reimbursed by me. 

" I have some delicate writing to do which requires more leisure that I can have 
in this city, unless I can hide myself. If there is no earthly objection or inconven- 
ience in it, I propose to come to your house from Judge Oakley's to-morrow night, 
and stay with you until Monday morning, under the pretence here that I have gone 
into the country. Let me kuow how this will suit, and whether you dine at 
Oakley's, Yours, &c." 

PnEsiDENT Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" November 26, 1832. 
"Yours of the 23d is this moment received and duly considered. Before this 
reaches you, you will have received the Secretary of the Treasury's letter upon the 
subject of the suits, &c., as ai)proved by me, which will be your guide. 

"I am sorry we are disappointed in not seeing you here. When your leisure will 
permit, we expect that pleasure. I have no time to sny more. 

" I am, respectfully your friend." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, December 6, 1832. 

" Yours of the 3d is just at hand. I accord with you fully in the propriety of 
the i)eople g'lx'mg fuUi/ and freehj their sentiments and opinions on Nullihcation, and 
the course pursued by South Carolina in her late pjroceedings. 

"The ordinance passed, when taken in connection with the Governor's Mes- 
sage, is rebellion and war against the Union. The raising of troops under them to 
resist the laws of the United States is absolute treason. The crisis must be, and as far 
as my constitutional and legal powers authorize, will be, met with energy and firm- 
ness. Hence the propriety of the public voice being heard — and it ought now 
to bo spoken in a voice of thunder, that Avill make the leaders of the nullifiers 
tremble, and cause the good citizens of South Carolina to retrace their steps? 
and adhere to that Constitution of perpetual union they have sworn to support. This 
treasonable procedure against the Union, and not only our liberties but the liberties 
of the world,— this nullifying movement in the South, — has done us great injury 
abroad, and must not only be promptly met, but put down by public opinion. It is, 
therefore, highly ])roper for the people to speak out all over the Union. I am pre- 
paring a Proclamation to the people of the South, and as soon as olBcially advised 
of these rebellious proceedings, will make a communication to Congress. I can say 
EO more, as I am surrounded at present, and bid you for the present adieu." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 249 

One of the most painful events of my life was imposed upon me in tlie per- 
formance of my duties as District Attorney of the United States. 

lu 1832, three persons were arrested and brought into New York charged 
■with, and who were unquestionably guilty of, most atrocious piracy and 
murder. 

The Captain and part of the crew were killed, the vessel was stranded and 
lost. 

Gibbs, a black man, and a boy of about sixteen years of age, were arrested. 
The evidence of guilt was not so full as to insure a conviction, unless one of 
these parties should be made State's evidence, which would discharge such one 
from trial. The duty and responsibility of selecting the person to be made a 
witness rested with the Attorney ; and thus the responsibility was thrown upon 
him of deciding which of these three persons should he saved from death. To 
have the life or death of a human being in one's hands, was a most painful 
condition. I deliberated much and most anxiously, I endeavored to obtain 
independent testimony sufficient to convict, but in vain ; I could not avoid the 
responsibility, and I selected the boy as the witness, as probably the least 
guilty, and by his testimony and the partial confession of Gibbs that the Cap- 
tain had been killed and the vessel stranded without stating who did this wick- 
edness, Gibbs and the black man were, after a most carefully contested trial, found 
guilty, sentenced, and executed. The boy was set at liberty. The criminals 
alleged that the boy was as guilty as they were. He was an English boy. I 
advised and assisted to return him to his own country, and I heard nothing 
more of him. He was very penitent and very grateful to me for saving his 
life. He was intelligent enough to appreciate what had been done, and in what 
extreme peril he had been placed. 

Edward Livingston, Secretary of State, to James A. Hamilton. 

"June 7, 1831. 
"The President has examined the papers in relation to the disclosures made by 
Gibbs, and has du-ected me to inform you that you are at liberty to employ * * * * 
in such a manner as you tliiuk will best attain the object of ascertaining the 
truth of the confession, and securing the proof necessary to convict those concerned 
in the transaction." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" January, 1833. 
"MyDearSik: Ihave just read a second time your 'message of the IGth in- 
stant (as to Nullification), and cannot refrain, in justice to my own feelings and 
principles, and to my present relations to you, from expressing my entire api)roval, 
and, I may add, the pride I feel in all you Lave done on the sul>ject to whicli it re- 
fers. To express all the admiration your course has excited, would not entirely com- 
port with delicacy or propriety. Your views of the principles of our Government 
are those alone on which it can be administered and preserved ; and allow mo to say, 



250 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

from a very careful search after public opinion as expressed by individuals, by the 
public papers, by meetings, and by the public functionaries (Governors and Legis- 
latures) of the different States, they are the views of the nation, notwithstanding 
the faint echo of former opinion, which a small majority, perhaps in tlie Virginia 
Legislature, are struggling to give out. 

" I regret, deeply regret that our Legislature should not have acted on this sub- 
ject ; it was due to you emphatically ; to the rank of the State and to the feelings 
of her citizens that New York should come forward in her strength. 

'' With that freedom in which I have been accustomed to commune with you I 
say that I deeply regret that considerations of any kind whatever should have in- 
duced this restraint at sucli an epoch as this : I know no party, or interest, or feel- 
ings, only such as belong to tlie country ; her permanent interest and glory ought 
to be the Polar star of every man connected in any degree with public affairs. 

" Some of the Virginia doctrines as to State rights — I mean those which can direct- 
ly, or even remotely, sanction the right of secession — resulted from a state of feelings 
and interests not the most propitious to the most enlightened views of the origin and 
character of our Government. They have not outlived with the great Pithlic the 
occnsion which produced them ; and they ought not now to be reiterated ; and yet I 
fear there are some among them who wait for a voice from Virginia ; and who fear 
if they acquiesce in your views, which are those of the nation, that the influence of 
their party will be diminished. 

" Tliis is a radical error. That party in this country which believes that princi- 
ple alone can permanently succeed is that one whose principles are founded on an 
enlightened patriotism, having for the object of its whole exertions, ^rs^, the pre- 
servation of the Union ; and next, the administration of our happy form of Gov- 
ernment in simplicity and truth. 

" United, we must in, the course of time and ere long become, ly po2)ulation and 
wealth the most foxcerful nation in the tcorld ; and, let me add, if ice shall be governed 
hy a high degree of Ghridian civilization we will he a Messing and a guide to all 
2)eoj)Ics. On the contrary, if we aj'e governed as nations hitherto haveieen, — ly a love 
of military renown alone, — we loill he a scourge to our race. 

" I write to you with freedom and in confidence, and yet I do not express half 
I feel or think. 

" Before I close this too long letter, allow me to say, knowing as I do the harass- 
ing extent of the engagements of yourself and confidential friends at this juncture, 
that if I can be of any use to you in any, even the most subordinate, situation, I 
will immediately repair to Washington, and pass a month at least devoted to any 
service which may promote the public welfare. I do not seek a participation in 
advising; but merely in executing under your directions. I can so arrange my 
business as by my absence not to impair my oflicial usefulness here." 
" With the truest attachment, your friend." 

Note. — Finding that the majority of the Legislature at Albany, the party 
of the Administration, and the partizans of Van Buren were putting off the 
expression of opinion in approval of the President's course — His message or 
Proclamation, I wrote several, letters to leading men in Albany urging them 
to pass strong resolutions approving of the course of the President, and 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 251 

denouncing nullification ; but without success. This backwardness arose from 
a fear that the approval of the views of the President in regard to the constitu- 
tion, the subordination of the States, and the repudiation of the right or 
power of a state to nullify the laws of Congress, or to withdraw from the Union, 
might offend the party in Virginia. I addressed a letter to Van Buren on the 
subject in which I expressed the hope that he would use his influence with his 
political friends in the Legislature, to pass resolutions approving the course of 
the President. This letter he returned to me, having opened it, without a 
word of explanation. This unfriendly, nay, offensive course, resulted from Van 
Buren's fear of offending the dominant political party of Virginia. 

Pkesident Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" WAsniNGTON, February 23, 1833. 

" I am indebted to you for replies to many of your kind letters ; and the only 
apology I can offer is the continued press of business, and lately, want of good 
Jiealth. I have been, I may truly say, tulerably pressed with business from sunrise 
to 12 at night. 

" Your last was by your amiable mother, with whom I have been mncb pleased, 
and am gratified to find that she retains all her faculties, and has clear recollections 
of our past lastory, in wliicb her deceased Iinsband acted so conspicuous a part. 

She informed me that she walked every day from Mr. 's to the capitol I regret 

very much that my engagements have been such that I could not pay more attention 
to her and her family than I have done. 

"I have been looking for you here. "When will you be witli us? "Ulll you 
come with Mr. Van Buren? I expect the pleasure of seeing you liere before the 4th 
of March. 

"The papers will have given you the union between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. 
How strange their position ! Nullification cannot be recognized as a peaceful and 
constitutional measure, and the American system of Mr. Clay being on the wane, 
a union between these two extremes is formed ; and I have no doubt the Peoi le 
will duly appreciate the motives wliich have led to it. I have good reason to be 
content, even gratified, with my own course, as I find these men are obliged to 
adopt it to give peace and harmony to the Union. 

" I have to attend the funeral at 11. I must close. Believe me your friend." 



James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" New Toek, February 28, 1833. 
"My Dear Sie : T had the pleasure yesterday to address a letter to you, but 
inadvertently omitted the subject of this letter. I am informed by a gtntleman- 
whose knowledge of the views of the United States Bank is only second to that of 
its President, and therefore repeat to you (with the assurance that you may rely 
upon it), that the bank counts upon being recbartered. Its purpose is for the next 
two years to fortify itself beyond all hazard by calling in its responsibilities gradually, 
to an amount at which they will be entirely manageable, and also by securing its 



252 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

debts. This operation will be performed under the avowed idea that it is necessary 
and preliminary to winding up its concerns. The State Banks, oid and new — and 
particularly the latter, it is believed — will consequently extend their discounts. The 
United States Bank will employ a part of its means in purchasing exchange, and 
otherwise securing a large credit in London ; and at the proper time, about the 
expiration of the period referred to, it will by withholding bills and by other means 
within its power cause exchange to advance so as to cause the exportation of specie 
and thus occasion a run upon all the moneyed institutions. This it will be prepared 
for. The affairs of the State Banks will consequently be so deranged as to compel 
them to i-top specie payments. The immense injury to the whole nation resulting 
from that event, it is believed, and not without foundation, will induce a stronger 
public feeling in favor of a recharter of the Bank as the only means of restoring a 
sound currency; and that will be pressed by the friends and retainers of the Bank 
upon a new Congress and your successor, with a force that they hope he will be 
unable to resist. The project is feasible and must, if attempted, whether successful 
or not, be productive of infinite mischief, because the whole monetary system of the 
country will be deranged. The first state of things resulting from the multiplication 
of State Banks which is going on to an unequalled extent will be that money will 
be abundant; that is to say, that discounts will be freely made, and that from these 
facilities prices will rise, and there will be excessive over-trading. The reduction 
of duties by the new tariff will cooperate with the other circumstances to induce 
this excess. The next state of things is the reaction which will not be far removed 
from its cause, and is as certain as fate. It will be pushed by the United States 
Bank to the consequences and for the end to which I have referred. Having, as I 
hope you have, settled the Southern difliculties, this subject seems to me to come 
next in order for consideration, as it is in consequence. The serpent is scotched, not 
killed. It has power as long as it can wind and move its immeasurable length 
along. Its exertions will be violent because it is a struggle for existence in which 
there will be no regard paid to the interests of the country which gave it life. 
Should these be seriously involved, the reputation of your Administration may 
not escaped unquestioned. 

" Should I hear anything more, or should any new thoughts occur to me, I will 
write to you Avithout reserve. 

"With the truest attachment, your friend." 



A Letter to a Discreet Friend. 

"Washington, March 19, 1833. 
"I am up to my eyes in business. Enjoying all the confidence of the President 
and the gentlemen about him, particularly McLane, I cannot tell you how readily 
I take to my former employments here; and how gladly I would plunge into the 
troubled waters again. There is an excitement in this large game which is most 
congenial with my feelings and temperament. I have very narrowly escaped being 
brought here; and, indeed, I think events will turn up in such a form as will call me. 
I must say that I would not regret the change, you know how mounting my ambi- 
tion is. All well. Yours, 

" James A. Hamilton." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 253 

EEMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 

I visited President Jackson, on his arrival at New York. Durino- the in- 
terview he said, "I wish you to be with me as much as you can. I am°to have 
a public dinner, and I wish you not only to be there, but to sit next to me." 
The evening before the dinner, he said: " Colonel ! come to my room to-mor- 
row, just before the dinner hour, and we will go in together." I did so, and 
was seated next to him. Before we left the room, he gave me several papers ; 
told me to read them with care and give him my opinion, in writing, on the 
subject. These papers were written by three or four different persons, urgin<^ 
the President to remove the public moneys deposited in the Bank of the United 
States and its branches. 

When I returned these papers, which I did immediately, they were accom- 
panied by a short note stating that the subject was one of such vast importance 
that I could not treat it without more time and deliberation than I then had ; that 
I would inform myself by conferring with the most distinguished bankers, and 
give him the result. I added, " My first impression is, that the measure pro- 
posed was a very questionable one, and must lead to great disturbance in com- 
mercial affairs." 

Mr. McLane, Secretary of State, had previously called upon me to obtain 
the opinions, in writing, of distinguished bankers in New York on this subject. 
To that end, I called upon several leading men, and invited them to a meetintr 
to talk over the subject of the removal of the deposits. At this meetino-, all 
agreed that the measure would be difficult of accomplishment and disastrous in 
its effects upon the business of the country ; that the State banks could not be 
so combined as to supply the place of the Bank of the United States, 

I had, at the same time, an interview with the Hon. Albert Gallatin. He / 
expressed the most decided opinion against the removal. He insisted that a 
Bank of the United States was an indispensable fiscal agent of the Treasury as 
his experience had convinced him. He asked, " What can induce the President 
to take such a course ? In answer, referring to the refusal of the Bank to 
make an appointment he desired, I said : " Kesentment ! " He replied, " Ke- 
sentment! Resentment! the affairs of Government can only be successfully 
conducted by cool reasoning and the lessons of experience." 

I submitted to Mr. Isaac Bronson the annexed inquiries, to which he gave 
the annexed answers : 

Answers to questions propounded by Mr. Hamilton, in respect to the proposed 
transfer of deposits of public funds from the Bank of the United States to 
the State Banks, and the use of State Banks as the future receivers of public 
moneys. 

" Question Ist. If the deposits were withdrawn from the United States Bank, and 
placed m certain State Banks, would the power of the former be materially dimin- 
ished, aud of the latter increased thereby ? 



/ 



254 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" 1st. I answer in the negative. The notes of the Bank must still be received in 
payment of the Government dues. The advantages of an extended circulation would 
continue to be enjoyed by it. The only effect then on the Bank would be a reduc- 
tion of profits, or a loss of interest on the average amount of permanent deposits. 
The Bank, with a moneyed capital of thirty-five millions and a circulation and private 
deposits of twenty to twenty-five millions more, could not feel very sensibly a with- 
drawal of two or three millions. After the Bank had reduced its loans by the amount 
of Government deposits withdrawn, it would still have ample means of pressing on 
the State Banks. 

" If it desired to do so, it might curtail the breadth of its credits, thereby obtain- 
ing a command of its loans, and then, by reducing the amount, bring the State Banks 
in debt at pleasure. The power of resistance on the part of the State Banks is only, in 
proportion to the amount that they refrained from using, in the ordinary mode of 
deriving profit from means. But reasoning from experience, it is not to be supposed 
that the State Banks would refrain from loaning out the deposits, and consequent- 
ly their power of resistance would not be increased. Assuming, for the pur- 
pose of the present inquiry, that tliere would be no standing accumulation of de- 
posits beyond the amount transferred from the Bank of the United States to the 
State Banks, that a large portion of subsequent receipts of moneys would be com- 
posed of distant bank notes, and that the State Banks would loan out the Govern- 
ment deposits, their power of resistance might be impaired, rather than strengthened. 
They must necessarily hold in reserve, to meet the general expenditures, an amount 
of their own proper means equal to that portion of receipts which consists of distant 
Branch notes, until these notes could be sent to the Branches and returned in avail- 
able funds. 

" Question 2ti It is asserted that the Western branches of the United States 
Bank have become indebted to the Atlantic Banks to the extent of sixteen millions, 
from the necessary flow of credits issued there to the Atlantic. And it is believed 
that if the public deposits should be made with the State institutions, that these 
"Western branches would become indebted to the Banks of deposit, and that thus the 
latter would acquire a control over the former. Would this be the effect of the 
change ? And if it would not — why not ? 

"2d. The Western branches are unquestionably indebted to the Atlantic branches 
and Parent Bank in a large amount, and the cause of that indebtedness existing in 
the actual course of business, the effect would be the same upon the exchange of de- 
posits to the State Banks ; and I consider this the most serious feature of the pro- 
posed change to the State Banks. If it gave them the means of checking the issues 
of the Western branches, it would, in the same or a greater degree, be the cause of 
weakness at home, and subject them to the control of both the Bank of the United 
States and other State Banks; and the latter would not probably be disposed to 
more lenity toward the favorites of the Government than the former. 

" Question 3d. — Would the change in the places of deposit of the public moneys 
alter the relation of debtor and creditor as between the United States Bank and 
those State Banks that might be selected as the places of deposit? 

" 3d. — Not if the Bank of the United States reduced its loans by an amount equal to 
the sum of its deposits withdrawn. If the State Banks loan out their deposits, they 
would cease to be creditors ; but whether they did or did not, the Bank of the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 255 

United States would not be their debtor, if it paid the amount transferred from it to 
the State Banks by a reduction of its loans. 

" Question 4th. — Is there, generally speaking, as great or a greater amount due from 
the State Banks throughout the Union to the United States Bank than the probable 
amount of the permanent deposits ? 

"4th. — This question can be answered precisely by reference to the statements 
furnished by the Bank to Government. Not having a sei-ies of their statements, I 
can only give my impression that the indebtedness of the State Banks to the Bank 
of the United States is not ordinarily more than one fourth of the amount of the 
average of the public deposits. 

" Note. — The Banks of this city are now indebted one million to the United States 
Bank. Last fall they were two millions. 

" Question 5th. — If the deposits were withdrawn from the United States Bank, 
would it be required, in its present situation, to curtail its discounts? And if it were 
com])elled to do so, could the Banks of deposit supply the nmount of curtailment, or 
would not they also be compelled to diminish their accommodation? 

"5th. — Unquestionably the Bank of the United vStates must reduce its discounts 
by an amount equal to the average sum of public deposits withdrawn from it. It 
could not otherwise pay over the Government deposits except by reducing its specie, 
which I think it could not do safely, and would not permanently, in the position in 
which it would be placed by a withdrawal of the Government deposits; and as three 
or four months hence is suggested as the probable time of withdrawal, if done at 
all, the Bank will not fail to make the necessary curtailments so as to avoid re- 
ducing its specie, if it is not in fact already prepared for the proposed measure. If 
the exi^ting amount of circulation and credits be not greater than the legitimate 
demands of trade require, which is more than questionable; and if the balance of 
payments in our foreign trade should not run against us ; and if, also, no conflict 
should ensue between the Bank of the United States and the State Deposit Banks, 
the latter might safely supply the amount of credits and circulation which the former 
must necessarily withdraw from public use ; less, however, by the average amount 
paid of distant Branch notes received in payment of revenue. But that a conflict 
would ensue I cannot doubt ; and if for no other cause the receipt of distant Branch 
notes will furnish one in the efforts of the State Deposit Banks to restrain the issue of 
these notes by frequent calls for their redemption. As to tlie state of our foreign 
exchanges, I think they will run against us. Imported goods are now paying a fair 
profit, and as it has always happened so it will occur again : the amount of importa- 
tions will increase until they not only cease to be profitable, but until they become 
excessive, and result in actual losses. 

"There is perhaps no operation in banking more universally understood than 
that, a Bank in a single city reducing its loans, others in the same city must re- 
duce likewise. And that so soon as this affects the price of commodities, more 
distant Banks are compelled to contract their credits and circulation. If, then, the 
Bank of the United States commences a systematic reduction, the State Banks must 
either place themselves in the power of the former, or curtail their loans ; and not 
curtailing, a stoppage of specie payments would be inevitable. 

" Question 6th. — Ought the present United States Bank to be rechartered ? lias its 
management for the last two or three years been such as to deserve the public con- 
fidence and promote its interest ? 



256 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" 6tli.— To the first branch of this inquiry I finsvver unhesitatingly in the negative. 
I give the same answer to the second branch. On this, however, I beg to enlarge. 
Up to the close of 1833, and until I saw the statements of the Bank under date 2d 
July, 1832, I advocated a renewal of the charter, but with some material modifica- 
tions. After analysing the statement and duly reflecting on the measures of the 
Bank and the motives of action which it developed, and looking also to the conse- 
quences that would follow, I came to the conclusion that there was an inherent vice 
in the system which forbade the hope of introducing such radical changes as expe- 
rience had shown to be indispensable to preserve a sound currency, and to prevent 
its deleterious influence upon the great monetary interests of our country and upon 
our invaluable public institutions. 

"If all the evil consequences did not ensue that the reckless issue of credits and 
circulation in 1831 was calculated to produce, it was to be attributed solely to the 
absence of a foreign demand for specie. The specie basis of our circulation was 
alarmingly reduced, and it only wanted a moderate foreign demand to produce an 
uncontrollable panic. Mitigated, however, as the case was by the absence of foreign 
demand for specie, it was sufiiciently severe on the importation of foreign goods 
in New York ; but as New York had been allowed the use of much less of the 
Bank funds than Philadelphia, the latter thus suftered more severely, and disastrous 
results have continued to occur during a longer period in Philadelphia than in New 
Y'ork. 

" Question 7th. — Could there be a combination of State Banks connected with and 
to perform the fisfal operations of the Government, so formed as to supply the place 
of the United States Bank, as the agent of the Treasury, and also to perform the 
more essential service to the country of checking and giving credit to the currency 
of the State Banks? 

" 7th. — I should say not. I caunot see how such a combination can be formed by 
State Banks as to answer the purpose indicated, and at the same time preserve their 
individuality. To form an efficient combination, such as would be indispensable to 
the purposes of Government and the great interests of the country, they must be 
subjected to one controlling will, and this power must be placed at some one com- 
manding point in respect to commerce and moneyed tran^^actions ; they must merge 
the individual interest into one common concern, and all the means must be resolved 
into one common stock. This would be, in fact, a Bank of tlie United States. 

" Each State Bank holding the Government funds would endeavor to make for 
itself the greatest possible advantage out of them, without reference to the interests 
of others. Jealousies and controversies would therefore arise upon the transfer of 
funds from one to another, and the Government would be beset with representations 
of their respective grievances, with complaints of its partiality and claims for its 
favor. But supposing, what is improbable, that the plan worked well in a time of 
internal and external quiet, and while the balance of payments was not against us on 
our foreign trade, would it, in case of some dissension at home, be safe for Gov- 
ernment to have its fiscal resources in possession of the State Banks and conse- 
quently in the power of States ? 

"The same spirit that prompted me once to propose the application of the 
taxes imposed by the General Government to the use of individual or a combination 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 257 

of States, and to stop the payment of import on foreign goods, would not hesitate to 
urge the adoption of the next step, that of seizing upon the actual funds of the 
Government ; and the Banks, actuated by the spirit of the community in which they 
are placed, would scarcely refrain from affording the opportunity for effecting such 
a measure. In the event of a foreign war, producing, as it probably would, an 
adverse course of exchange, it would not be in the power of the Government to 
prevent a suspension of specie payments. Our paper currency fills all the avenues of 
circulation to the extent of their utmost capacity, and requires all the support of the 
most unhesitating confidence to sustain it ; and this must continue while small notes 
are permitted to dispense with the use of specie in the smaller transactions of the 
community. Let this confidence become impaired, and it would almost certainly, 
by the vicissitudes of war, and hoarding superadded to the foreign drain, effect 
a suspension of specie payments. The history of our currency during the late 
war wHl tell the rest. 

" If State Banks be used as the receivers of the public revenue, the notes of such 
banks should be receivable everywhere in payment of Government dues, or the public 
accommodation would be materially impaired ; but if made so receivable, the banks 
will almost instantly avail themselves of the facility thus furnished of extending 
their issues, and thereby produce greater inequalities in the beneficial use of Gov- 
ernment deposits. 

" The course of business, as well as the disbursements of Government, draws the 
available currency from the South and "West to the North and East upon the Atlan- 
tic. The former consequently become debtors to the latter. "Would there not be 
much difliculty in the adjustment of balances? 

" My opinion is, that it would produce a prolific source of discord among the 
Deposit Banks, and not a little embarrassment to the Government itself. If any thing 
like a safety-fund system should be attempted, I presume it would require both the 
sanction of the State laws and of the stockholders of each Bank. 

" This could hardly be accomplished without consolidation, and this would form 
a Bank of the United States ; but if the combination could be eflected without con- 
solidation, and each Bank be made answerable for all the rest, the evils of misman- 
figement would be greater and less easily corrected than if each were responsible only 
for its own acts. 

" Question 8th. If the Government should withdraw its deposits from the 
United States Bank, would that measure increase or diminish the probability that 
that Bank would obtain a renewal of its charter in despite of the veto of the 
President? 

" 8t7i. The probability of renewal would, in my opinion, be very much increased. 
Next to an actual renewal, no measure of the Government would be so gratifying to 
the Bank. I know it to be desired by political men friendly to the Bank. It would 
have, or could be made to have, a powerful influence on Pennsylvania. It would 
furnish an excuse for every oftensive means the Bank might choose to adopt. 
The community would be the victim. 

" If let alone, it will in all probability endeavor to keep our moneyed affairs 
tolerably easy whilst the hope of recharter exists, and this hope will not, I think, be 
abandoned until another be proposed to take its place. When it ceases to look to a 
renewal, it will then adopt the course most beneficial to the stockholders, curtailing 
its loans so gradually as to allow them to be absorbed by other Banks, or paid with- 
17 



258 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

out the sacrifice of property that always ensues from rapidly reducing credit and 
circulation. 

" New York, April 4, 1833. 

" P. S.— The receipts of the Treasury from imposts during a year from this date, 
it is believed, will nut be less than seventeen, and they may amount to twenty mil- 
lions. The permanent deposit cannot be estimated at more than two, but it may be 
as large as three millions of dollars. From the course of the public business the 
deposits accumulate during the early part of the year, commencing from the adjourn- 
ment of Congress (that is the enactment of the ai)propiiation bills), and are drawn 
low toward the end. These assumptions are proper to be borne in mind, in connec- 
tion with the object of the following inquiries. It is probable, if the United States 
should determine to cea<e to deposit with the United States Bank, that the present 
funds in the Bank would not be withdrawn before the expiration of from ninety 
to one hundred and twenty days." 

Mr. Van Buren accompanied the President on bis eastern journey. Before 
leaving Washington, he had expressed to Cass, McLane, and others his decided 
disapproval of the President's purpose to withhold the deposits from the Bank. 
McLane frequently referred to this concurrence of Van Buren in his views, as 
did Cass. 

In the course of the journey, Van Buren finding the President was deter- 
mined upon this most unnecessary and pernicious measure, changed his opinions 
before they reached Concord, when, as McLane alleged, the President imme- 
diately determined to return with all haste to Washington, Van Buren accom- 
panying him. The latter on his arrival called upon McLane, and informed him 
of the President's determination and his change of opinion. McLane reproach- 
fully said, " You now advocate the removal in obedience to the wishes of the 
President." He replied, " I found the President was so determined that I 
could not oppose him." This recreancy on the part of Mr. Van Buren was most; 
painful to Mr. McLane, who, in letters to his friends, referred to it as very 
unworthy. 

Major AYilliam B. Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

Washington, June 22, 1833. 

" Mt Deae Col. : Your kind letter of the iTth instant has been received. You 
had a gay time of it while the President was in New York. The whole world, 
from all accounts, must have been there to welcome and receive him. It must have 
been a splendid reception, and what is more gratifying, it was not less cordial than 
splendid. Did the good old gentleman have time to call on your family? I hope 
Mrs. Hamilton and Eliza did not miss seeing him. And the old lady, your mother, 
where was she? The General, you know, might call on her, if no other. We re- 
ceived a letter from the President yesterday, written at Hartford, by which we learn 
his health contimiea to improve. He appeared to be much pleased with his reception 
in Connecticut. The Yankees, I expect, will not only be civil but Mnd to him during 
his sojourn among them. In Boston, a great display, I have no doubt, will be made. 
In order, sy|Stem, and arrangement, it is not improbable but they will excel even New 
( 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 259 

York. But tliey have not the pojijulation of your great city, nor the heart -with 
■which its people were ainmated. Let us, however, leave the President in the liands 
of his Yaxik&Q friends for the present, and turn our thoughts upon another subject. 
How, ray friend, do things move on, politically, in the Empire State? IIow many 
Eichards are we to have in the field at the nest Presidential election? Are Clay's 
friends disposed to risk another race on him, or do they begin to look upon him as 
a broken down horse? It is my opinion they will not venture another stake on 
him. You may rely upon it, he will be given up by the great body of his former 
friends. Who, then, will be the opposition candidate ? Mr. Webster is spoken of, 
hut I doubt whether he is disposed longer to sail under that flag. So far it has 
proved to be an ensign of defeat and mortification to him and his friends. I feel 
confident, if circumstances permit, he will haul it down and run up another. Wheth- 
er the new one will be a AVebster, or Van Buren, or a McLaue flag, I know not. 
If he ehould, however, contrary to my present impressions, be pressed into the ser- 
vice of the opposition proper, and induced by them to become a candidate for the 
Presidency, it will be done only for the purpose of cutting up the electoral vote and 
throwing the choice into the house. Should this be tlie settled policy of tlie opposi- 
tion, and an arrangement entered into by the high contracting parties to that effect, 
you may expect to see Calhoun or P. P. Barbnur, or some other Nullifier of the 
South taken up and run in that section of the Union. This will be done to divide 
and distract; but unless I am greatly deceived in the signs of the times, Mr. Justice 
McLean, of Ohio, is the man to whom the largest fragments of the opposition will 
eventually adhere. lie will be the Bank candidate, and that influence will control 
all otliers. He will be supported unanimously by his Methodist breihren and by 
many of the quasi Jackson men, because, of course, he will be called a Jacl'son 
Man ! Arrangements are now being made in Pennsylvania to give him the appear- 
ance of great strength in that Jaclcson Democratic State at the 4th July celebrations. 
From the present appearance of things, I am of the opinion that Judge McLean will 
prove the most powerful opponent with whom we shall have to contend ; but if our 
friends will be true to themselves and the party, vigilant and active — yet judicious 
and discreet — we have nothing to fear from that or any other quarter. I wish Cal- 
houn may be a candidate. I have a rod in pickle fur him whenever he makes his 
appearance. He will find himself in a not les? enviable predicament than the Craw- 
ford and Hamilton correspondence placed liim. I shall be able to give the penjile 
of the United States an insight of his real character and designs. The time has not 
yet come. I again ask, what is the state of things in New York ? Will Van Buren's 
friends all stand firmly by him ? Has he gained strength since the last November 
elections, and is he still gaining? Will not Swartwout support him at the next elec- 
tion ? What is Major Noah about ; and what the present feelings and course of 
your City Postmaster ? What are V;in Buren's cnlculations with regard to the New 
England Slates? How many of them will be with us, and how will Webster ulti- 
mately go ? Will he fall into our ranks or not ? I think he would if he were the 
least encouraged. Would it be good policy to give him :my encouragement ? I tliink 
he is tired of belonging to a small minority party. I do not think we should court 
Mr. Webster or any other person, but at the same time I think avc shouM not treat 
him or his friends harshly. I would not invite, nor would I repel any nian or sjt of 
men. If they think proper to adopt our principles and fall in with us, I say let them 
do so. This is my notion, but I know it does not accord with the feelings of some 



260 REMINISCENCES OE JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of our friends. You see, my frieir?, I have carved out a heavy job for you. I should 
like to hear from you in answer to the above interrogatories, but not before it will be 
entirely convenient. Believe me to be sincerely yours, &c." 

William B. Lewis to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

"■Washington, August 20, 1833. 
" My Dear Col. : Yours, covering a letter to the President, was received in due 
course of mail, and, as requested, the letter to the President was forwarded to him 
without delay. Your previous letter which I was authorized and requested to show 
to Mr. JilcLane was not received until he had left the city for New York, and sup- 
posing that you would see him and have a full and frank conversation with him, with 
regard to the matters spoken of in the letters referred to, I have concluded not to 
sbow it to him until I receive further advice from you. However, believing justice 
to you required that the President should understand the ground of the frequent 
assaults upon you and Swartwout, I thought it was rigbtthat he should hear what 
you had to say upon the subject, and therefore took the liberty of sending the letter, 
which was intended for another, to him. Perhaps I was wrong la taking «uch an 
unauthorized liberty with you, but it was done with the best motive I assure you, 
and with the belief that it would be gratifying to the President and beneficial to you. 
I sent it to him nearly a week before the receipt of your last letter, inclosing one 
for him. I am, my dear Sir, truly and sincerely yours, &c." 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton (Private.) 

" "Washington, September 8, 1833. 
"Dear Sip.: I have postponed answering your letter of the 31st of August last, 
for the purpose of obtaining the correspondence you allude to, of your father's, on 
the subject of changing the deposits to prevent runs upon the Bank which would 
produce a great pressure upon the community. I have not been able to lay my hands 
'On it. Am informed your brother has this correspondence. "Will you have the good- 
ness to obtain them for me? Will you please provide me such information as is in 
your power, showing the pressure of the United States Bank on the State Banks? 
It is surely the duty of the Executive to administer the government for the benefit 
and protection of all^ not for the fete, and such evidence would well warrant the 
Executive Government to use its (^ep(9Si7s to check oppression wherever it may be 
attempted. Please write. Give me all information in your power, and as we are 
making inquiry whether through the State Banks we can carry on the fiscal opera- 
tions of the Government, and preserve a sound and wholesome currency, I will 
thank you for your views ; and whether we ought not to commence it before the 
meeting of Congress by directing all collections after a certain day to be made in the 
State Banks. That will oblige themselves to come into certain arrangements. Give 
me your views on these questions, on the receipt of this. 

"Yours very respectfully, &c. 

" P. S. — I find Mr. Crawford made the deposits in State Banks without any hes- 
itation as to his power, long after the "CTnited States Bank was chartered, and made 
the bills of State Banks paying specie for their bills, receivable iu payment of public 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 2C1 

dues for land as late as 1820 and 1822. There can be, I suppose, no question of the 
power of the Executive through his Secretary of the Treasury to either change the 
deposits or direct other bank bills than those of the United States to be taken in 
payment of the revenue, provided United States bills are not excluded. Answer 
this. 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, September 13, 1833. 

"Dear Sie : Tours of the 11th inst. is just to hand. The correspondence of 
your father ■with the Banks, and the powers exercised by him over the deposits 
would be very desirable to me. I must depend upon you for them as I do not be- 
lieve Mr. Duane has much desire to see this correspondence. I have, and will thank 
you for them or a synopsis of them, as well as all the information you can obtain on 
the other point named in my former letter. Believe me to be, 

" Your friend, &c. 

"P. S. I have been quite unwell for a few days past — am better." 

James A. Hamilton to President Andrew Jackson 

" New Yoek, September 13, 1833. 

" Dear Sir : I am prepared to give a hasty reply to the inquiries contained in 
your letter of the 8th inst. They will be considered in their order and perhaps in 
distinct letters. 

" In the first place, in compliance with your wish that I should obtain such in- 
formation as was within my reach showing the pressure of the United States Bank 
on the local institutions in this city, I have conversed with several disinterested men 
well acquainted with the subject, and others who are engaged in moneyed transactions 
and institutions, who are more or less affected by the change of measures of the 
Banks. They all agree that, although there has been much overtrading in stocks as 
well as merchandize, and although the collection of an uncommonly large amount of 
duties, cash, and credit has induced an extraordinary demand for money, yet that 
if the United States Bank had not changed its measures both toward individuals 
and the State institutions, there would have been no difRculty'in the commercial 
community. The facts I understand to be these : the business of the country gen- 
erally has been very prosperous, and, as is almost always the case, it has produced a 
sort of an infatuation among the money-makers of all descriptions (and who is there 
in our Country who is not of that class ?). Consequently, almost all so engaged have 
extended their operations through the facilities of the Banks, and they are at such 
times always ready to afford to the utmost limit of their credit, in the confidence 
that these facilities would be continued as long as the Banks were not forbidden to 
do so by the course of the foreign exchange or from any other cause. At the time 
these facilities were given and theretofore, the United States Bank extended its dis- 
counts as the others did, and allowed the State institutions to become indebted to it 
in an aggregate balance of four, five, or six hundred thousand dollars, without call- 
ing for payment in specie. Under these circumstances I am informed: 1st, that 
within three or four weeks the revenue paid into the United States Bank on account 



262 BEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of the Governineut has been much larger than usual, and to an extraordinary 
amount. 2d, That the United States Bank has, during that period, not only not in- 
creased but that it has diinini.-lKd its discounts. It has refused to loan money to its 
dealers upon the very ient security to be repaid in five, ten, fifteen, or thirty days, or 
at pleamre. 3d, That it determined to call upon the State Banks for payment in 
specie of any balance over an aggi'egate of $200,000. 4th, That in pursuance of 
that determination, it has within the above period withdrawn from the State Banks 
about $350,000 in specie, and consequently tliat these banks have been compelled to 
suspend or reducfe their discounts from one to two-thirds their usual amount. The 
following case has occurred: A applies to the branch in this city for a loan paya- 
ble at its pleasure on the most unquestionable security : it is refused, and the only 
arrangement tliat would be made was that it was to purchase a foreign drafc or bank 
check on Philadelphia for which it deducted, according to the exigency of the case, 
one fourth or three eighths per centum. It is to be remarked that the expense of 
transporting specie from Philadelphia, at this time, was ten shillings per one thou- 
sand dollars. B applies directly afterward for a similar draft on Philadelphia, and 
the officer of the bank here turns round anS asks him one quarter per cent, for the 
draft, tiius receiving as an inducement to cash a check of a bank here on a bank in 
Philadelphia one fourth or three eighths per cent., and at the same moment selling 
such check at one fourth per cent, advance. This is what Mr. McDufiie extols as 
a currency provided by the United States Bank superior to gold or silver currency. 
Let us see the effect of this change of measures on the part of the United States 
Bank upon the State institutions and the commercial community. It is the same 
thing (when an increased amount of revenue is received), whether the Bank holds on 
to what it receives, or diminishes its discount. If it holds on to the increased 
amount received, and at the same time diminishes its discounts, the effect is tremen- 
dous. If it continues its line of discount to the same amount it did before the in- 
creased receipts, the eftect is not so ruinous, but it is greatly prejudicial or not, ac- 
cording as the increased amount received is great or not, in either case. As the du- 
ties must be paid, tiie merchants must borrow from the State Banks as much more 
as is the increased amount to be paid, and consequently the credits issued to them 
by the State Banks must go to tlie United States Bank, and if the excess beyond the 
usual aggregate balance is only called for, it must be paid in specie at great expense 
to these banks and inconvenience to their dealers; but if that aggregate is dimin- 
ished one half or two thirds, the banks and merchants will be sorely pressed, if not 
crushed. To make this matter perfectly plain, let us suppose that the whole amount 
of discounts to this community in one week is $1,500,000, of which the United States 
Bank furnishes $500,000, and the nine State Banks the rest, or $1,000,000, and that 
the ordinary amount of duties to be paid, is $250,000, which is paid by the issues of 
all these banks in an equal proportion to the discounts : that is to say, one third in 
credits given by the United States Bank, and two thirds by the credits given by the 
other Banks. This being the usual course, if the amount of duties to be paid in, 
creases or diminishes, the demand does so also, and the several banks make their 
loans accordingly— it being understood between the State Banks and the United 
States Bank, that tlie former arc not to be called upon to redeem the?e issues so ab- 
sorbed in duties until the aggregate amounts to $500,000. Shortly, the amount of 
duties to be paid increases to $500,000 a week. The United States Bank is the re- 
cipient of the whole— it refuses to increase its discounts — the State Banks make a 



IIEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 2G3 

great effort to, and do supply this increased amount of duties to be paid by the 
merchants, and whea that is done their balances to the United States Bank are in- 
creased, and being so, the United States Bank determines not to give them their ac- 
customed credit, but to redeem at one half or one third, and demand specie for the 
surplus. The hazard of the State Banks becomes imminent, and to relieve them- 
selves they are compelled to call upon their debtors for payment which necessity, 
particularly if the latter are still required to pay an increased amount of duties, in- 
volves a great diminution in the prices of commodities forced into market to obtain 
money, and nil imate ruin. Sucb has been the course of the United States Bank, and 
such are the effects. 

" Such are the results of my inquiries. If any more or different information is 
obtained, it shall be communicated without delay. As you say, ' it is surely the 
duty of the Executive to administer the government for the benefit and protection 
of all, and not for the few; ' and I add that to that end you should so dispose of 
the revenue not required for the immediate purposes of the Government as that it 
may protect and sustain the commercial classes against the pressure of the giant 
Bank. This state of things, in addition to the many and forcible reasons heretofore 
existing for cutting off" all connection between the Bank and the Government, seems 
to me fully to justify such a course on your part. But I consider the question, 
whether you will make the change or not, as settled. The mission of Mr. Kendall 
was an avowal of your determination which cannot be recalled, and which the rep- 
utation of your administration requires should be fulfilled, particularly as it is under- 
stood that he was entirely successful. You are aware that I have heretofore ques- 
tioned the expediency of such a measure, and that this resulted from my ftars of its 
effect upon the State Banks ; that is to say, that in consequence of the revenue being 
payable in unavailable paper, (Western and South- Western banknotes) its receipt by 
the State institutions, (if they were to discount upon it) would be a source of weak- 
ness rather than of strength ; and to show that this fear was not entirely groundless, 
our friend Kendall in conversation with me here admitted that for a short period 
after the fact of the change, the State Banks could not use the funds Ihey would 
receive as the foundation of an increase of their loans. I will, in the course of this 
communication, point out a very simple arrangement which will entirely obviate 
that evil. Your first question is, ' whether the State Banks can carry on the fiscal 
operations and preserve a sound and wholesome currency? ' To both branches of 
the question I answer in the affirmative. True — at the same time, however, I must, 
referring to experience, express my fears whether they will not, unrestrained, run 
into excesses which will inflate the currency, and consequently make it unsound. 
The Treasury can undoubtedly curtail them, but if it cannot do so entirely, it is then 
the business of Congress to exercise its powers. The discussion of the latter part of 
the question does not, therefore, properly belong to that of moving the deposits. 
Mr. Gallatin, as Secretary of the Treasury, used the Banks with success as the fiscal 
agents of the Treasury, and when I asked him, a few months ago, whether they 
could perform that duty, he replied that he had no doubt they could. The truth is, 
it is more diflicult to find reasons to believe that they could not (being properly or- 
ganized for that purpose) carry on the fiscal operations of the Treasury, than it is to 
furnish reasons why they should be able to do so. They must avail themselves 
of the course of the exchanges of the country resulting from its business as the 
United States Bank does, in order to perform the same operations. That Bank does 



264 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

not create or regulate that exchange— it only affords it a channel. The State Banks 
could do tlie same, although perhaps not so conveniently or profitably. However, 
whatever speculations or theories there may be indulged on this subject, experience 
is a better guide,— and that you have,— to prove that they can be so used successfully. 
And let me add, that as the present Bank is to be wound up, and as no other is 
created to supply its place, the Treasury must make the attempt to use the State 
Banks as its agents, and that without delay. Nothing else seems to me to be left 

for it. 

" The next question propounded is as to the tune wJien the change should he made. 
The answer to this question depends upon the mode of making the change. If the 
funds now in the United States Bank are to remain there, and the collections are to 
be made immediately by the new agents, and if my opinion of the unavailable char- 
acter of the funds to be received is correct, then the change ought not to be made at 
this period of pressure, because it would increase that evil ; but if the mode I pro- 
pose be adopted, the change ought to be made on the 1st or before the 20th of Oc- 
tober—that is to say, without the least delay. 1st, because it will immediately en- 
able the State Banks to relieve the commercial community from the existing pres- 
sure, and thus recommend the measure in the strongest manner to the good opinion 
of the public ; and 2d, because whenever it is done, there will be a great clamor (the 
interested few always make more noise than the indifferent multitude), and time 
should be given for this to subside before Congress meets, which it will do in the 
course of a month. The experiment having thus been mad.^ if it be not proved suc- 
cessful it will certainly not have produced all the evils that have been anticipated, 
and the friends of the administration who are opponents of the Bank, will come to 
Washington with renewed confidence and spirit. Now, as to the mode of making 
the change, you are aware that all moneys paid for duties are paid on bonds lodged 
for collection in the Branch Bank or at the desk of the Cashier of the Custom House 
and carried into the Bank to the credit of the Collector, and thus remain subject to 
his check until he pays them over to the United States. The 21st section of the 
Collection law of 1799 (the only law, I believe, on the subject) requires the Collect- 
ors to make up the accounts and pay over the public moneys to the Treasury, pur- 
suant to the orders of the Secretary. Under this authority it has been the practice 
(there is no written authority to that effect on the subject now in the Custom House 
here) of the Collector to carry every Monday morning to the credit of the Treasurer 
of the United States in the Branch Bank of the United States any balance of public 
moneys that may stand to his (the Collector's) credit in that Branch, or be elsewhere 
under his control, by a check drawn by the Collector in favor of the Treasurer of the 
IJnited States and deposited in the Bank, and that thus the public moneys stand, on 
Monday of each week, to the credit of the Treasurer of the United Stales, and sub- 
ject to his control in the United States Bank, instead of standing as it did during 
the previous week to the credit of the Collector and subject to his order. This being 
the case, let the Secretary of the Treasury order the several Collectors weekly or 
semi-weekly to carry the balances standing to their (the Collectors') credit in the 
United States Bank or its Branches to the credit of the Treasurer of the United 
States in the State Bank, designated by a check or checks drawn by the Collector 
in favor of the State Banks, and thus all the difliculties as to unavailable funds 
are at an end. Thus the effect of the change would be to immediately affect 
the State Bank's fund, upon which they could discount and thus relieve th« 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 265 

mercantile community, -without the fear of becoming indebted to the United States 
Bank ; whereas, if the collections of the revenue were immediately transferred 
to the State Banks,* they would receive in its payment Western bank-notes 
which would burthen them at first and consequently greatly increase the present 
pressure. This arrangement is required to be merely temporary, and to give a 
helping hand to sustain them against the monster while he has strength and in- 
clination to do mischief. The residue of tbe remarks I have to make upon these 
and the other subjects of your letter will be reserved for a future communica- 
tion. I have the honor to be, with very great respect, 

"Yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

"New Yoek, September 16, 1833. 

"Dear Sir: Your letter of the 13th instant is this moment received. I have 
examined with care my father's papers, among them several letters are found from 
William Seaton, Casliier of the Bank of New York, to my father, written during the 
years 1791-92-93 and 94, but more from my father to him. Among these, the only* 
important letter is that from which an extract is inclosed. From this, it is perfectly 
clear that, in consequence of the pressure of the Branch Bank, in this city, upon the 
Bank of New York, the Secretary of the Treasury ordered the Collector of New 
York to deposit public moneys in the Bank of New York. I will go to tlie Custom 
House here to see what I can obtain further on the subject. If it should by the 
records of that office appear, that cotemporaneously with this letter the Collector 
deposited in the New York Bank, having theretofore made his deposits in the 
Branch, the inference is unmistakable. I will also endeavor to obtain from the New 
York Branch copies of my father's letters, and may thus obtain that of the 25tb of 
July, whicb is referred to in the extract inclosed. 

" Yours, &c." 



^] 



William Seaton, Cashier of tbe Bank of New York, to General Alexander 

Hamilton. 

"New York, August 6, 1792. 
" My Dear Sir: Shortly after I received your kind letter of the 25th. I found, 
by a letter from your department, you were gone to make a tour in Jersey — there- 
fore delayed answering it. You will observe, by the annexed return, that the Col- 
lector has begun to comply with your kind orders, and it will be a very pleasant 
circumstance that he continue to do so, for the Branch is certainly getting on very 
fast, and I think (in confidence,) their direction rather wish' to take every advantage 
in drawing in of our specie. They make pretty frequent and heavy drafts, and 
rather, I think, unnecessarily so — because, whenever the interchange of notes leaves 
a balance in their favor, a draft for specie soon follows, I would not wish to com- 
plain just now, but if I find they persist in thus drawing in, I must implore the aid 
of your all powerful hand to convince them we are not destitute of aid in the hour 
of need. " Yours, &c." 

*The 3d Section of the Act of May 10th, 1800, marie it tlic duty of tlie Collectors 
of New York, Philadelphia, &c., to deposit bonds for duties for colicctiou in the United 
States Bank or its Branches. 



2GG REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

William B. Lewis to James A. Hamiltox. 

" "Wasiiixgtojt, September 22, 1833. 
"YoTj have seen, my clear sir, that the Glole has annoimced, by authority, the 
deterrain;ition of the President to remove the public deposits from the United States 
Bank. It has been said, yon know, that the Secretary of the Treasury will not con- 
sent to make the order. This w^ill not deter the President, who, after having 
resolved upon a thing, never looks back. He will not permit any Secretary, you 
may be assured, to stand between him and the execution of a measure which he 
deems of vital importance to the country. The thing will be definitely settled to- 
morrow, and if Mr. Duane will not, or cannot, make the order, I have no doubt but 
he \\'\\\ bo superseded by the appointment of Mr. Taney Secretary of the Treasury, 
(not fro tern, but permanently) who has been decidedly with the President in relation 
to this matter, from beginning to end, I beg you will attach no credit to the reports 
of other Cabinet Ministers going out. I know there is no truth whatever in the 
rumor at this time, nor do I believe that any contingency will or can arise which 
will make such a step at all necessary. 

" Sincerely yours, &c." 

Martin Vax Burex to James A. Hamilton. 

"New York, December 8, 1833. 
"My Dear Sir: I wish you would read the inclosed letter from me, and seal it, 
and then write to our friend Van Sholten and send the package to him through 
the firm of Rogers & Co. It did not enter into my imagination, whilst considering 
your plan in regard to your future course, with the single view of ascertaining what 
would best promote your owu' happiness' and that of your family, that there was 
anything in the case which,- more than malice of my enemies, could torture into 
matter of censure. I do not think so now, but reflecting upon your kind and con- 
siderate observations, and mindful, as Mr. Duane says, of the consciousness of the 
age, I have thought the subject of them of suflicient importance to suggest the pro- 
priety of your coming to a conclusion without any advice from me. I would, on no 
account, omit to advise with your connections, and make them sensible of the pro- 
priety of the course you adopt; and tlie more you reflect upon it, the more I am 
persuaded you will be convinced that propriety and your own happiness w^ill be 
best consulted by separating the present from the hereafter entirely, leaving the 
latter wholly to the control of time and circumstances. You see how the wind 
blows at Washington, and that we who cannot but be in the fight will have a rough 
sea. So be it. What cannot be cured must be endured. Sincerely wishing you 
belter health, 

" I am, very cordially yours, &c. 

"P. S.— You may destroy Yau Sholten's letter, and be sure to write the good 
old man an affectionate one." 

PtESIG:srATIO^^ OF THE OFFICE OF DISTPJCT ATTORNEY. 

On the 13tb of December, I addressed the following letter to President 
Jackson : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 267 

"Deae Sir: The impression I entertained, as communicated in a former letter, 
that my health would not permit me much longer to perform the very arduous du- 
ties of ray office, is confirmed by the best medical advice I can obtain. I must there- 
fore beg you not to consider me as desiring a renomination. As the unfinished busi- 
ness of the office will be best concluded under my direction, I propose, unless you 
should prefer a ditferent course, to yield the place to my successor immediately after 
the nest April Term of the Circuit Court. 

" With the truest attachment, your friend, &c." 

To this letter I received the following reply : 

PRESIDENT Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, December 24, 1833. 

"My Dear Sib: Your letters of the 13th instant have been duly received. I 
sincerely regret your indisposition and the determination the counsel of your physi- 
cian has induced you to adopt. "Whilst I sympathize with you and your friends in 
the cause which induces your retiring from office, I shall sincerely feel your absence 
from that station which yon have filled with so much honor and talent and benefit 
to the public interest. Go where you may for the restoration of your health, you 
carry with you my best wishes for its restoration, your happiness and prosperity, 
and that'of your amiable family. 

"I will barely remark your commission expires on the 18th March. If you wish 
April to wind up your business, am I to understand that you wish a nomination to 
the Senate for that purpose? If so, be pleased to intimate it, and your wish will be 
gratified. 

'' Please present me kindly to your amiable lady and family and your dear 
mother, and believe me, respectfully, 

"Your friend, Andrew Jackson." 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

" New York, December 28, 1833." 

" My Dear Sir : I bad the honor yesterday to receive your very flattering and 
friendly letter of the 24th instant. In reply to that part of it in which you express 
a readiness to renominate me, I feel bound frankly to say, that I do not think the 
object (continuing in office for a month or sis weeks after my term expires to wind 
up the business), of sufficient importance to induce such a measure, and as I could 
not advise it to be done in the case of another, I cannot wish it in my own. When 
I intimated a disposition to continue my duties until the end of the April term of 
the Circuit Court, I was influenced merely by a regard for the public interests, 
under an impression that the suits I had conducted, and particularly those I had 
argued with success in the Court below, would be better tried by me than my suc- 
cessor, and that this could be dtme by my holding over. The same end can, liow- 
ever, be attained by my giving him my assistance, which I will most cheerfully do. 

" I remain, my dear sir, with the truest attachment, your friend, &c. 

Before my resignation was sent to the President, I addressed a letter to 



268 / REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Virgil Maxcy, Solicitor of the Treasury, requesting him to inform me whether 
there was a charge of any kind against me on his records, in any form what 
ever ; to which he replied that there was no claim upon me whatever, but on 
the contrary, that the country was greatly indebted to me for my various and 
most useful eervices. 



y /-'-.'"■ 



/ 



J 



1/ 



f 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM JANUARY 1834, TO MARCH 18-11. 

The Bank question — Views of President Jackson — Projects submitted — Letters from 
Mr. Van Buren — President Jackson refuses to modify his plans — Efforts to aid 
the Government — Attempt to assassinate the President — War threatened — The 
great fire in the city of New York — Account of the way in which it Avas arrested 
— I irst visit to Europe— Sketches of distinguished people — A visit to Talley- 
rand. 

"William B. Lewis to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, January 25, 1834. 
" MtDeaeCol. : You requested me to give you a glimpse of matters and things 
in "Washington. This I would do with great pleasure, if there was any thing here of 
interest or worth seeing, that you will not find in the papers of this city. There is 
hut one subject at this time which engrosses much attention. The Bank question 
absorbs all others, and will continue to do so until Congress comes to some decision 
in relation to the matter, and God only knows when that will be the case. The de- 
bate in both Houses seems interminable. Many speeches have been made, and many 
more have been prepared and are in preparation. However, I think we have noth- 
ing to fear from a full and protracted discussion of the subject. I have no doubt but 
we are stronger in the House now than we were at its commencement, and I tliink 
we are still gaining strength. The present impression is, that in the House there 
will be a majority on the final vote, of not less than twenty in favor of the Adminis- 
tration, In the Senate, it is conceded the majority will be against it. Tiie rumor 
about tlio distinguished individual to whom you refer, and the President being en- 
gaged in framing a charter for a new United States Bank, is utterly destitute of 
founda,tion. , The President has had no conversation with that gentleman upon the 
subject of a new Bank, nor is he willing to listen even to any proposition from any 
quarter upon that subject, until the question now pending before Congress is decided. 
It will then become the duty, perhaps, of Congress to legislate x;pon the subject as 
proposed l)y the Secretary of the Treasury in his report to Congress. 

" Truly and sincerely yours, &c." 

President Andrew Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

""Washington, February 2, 1834. 
" My Deak Sir: Yours of the 29th ultimo is just received, with your views on a 
Bank. I cannot concur or approve your plan, vWe have begun the experiment of 



270 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

testing the system of carrying on the fiscal operations of the Government through 
the agency of State Banks. For myself I am determined to test it, and have no 
doubt but it will work well in the end, and give a more uniform currency than any 
United States or National Bank ever hns, or can do, and introduce a metallic cur- 
rency throughout the Union sufficient for the laboring class by putting out of issue 
and circulation all notes under twenty dollars. There is no real general distress. It 
is only with those who live by borrowing, trade on loans, and the gamblers in stocks. 
It would be a godsend to society if all such were put down. This will leave capital 
to be employed by individuals either combined or otherwise without the sanction of 
Government, and leave all to trade on their own credit and capital without any in- 
terference by the general Government; except using its power by giving through its 
mint a specie currency, and by its legislation a standard value to keep the coin in the 
rountrv. I must stop. The church bells are ringing, and I must attend. With my 
best wishes, adieu. This being a hasty scrawl, without correction, is for your own 

^^^" " Yours, &c." 

The following project and other papers are referred to : 

BANKS. 

New Relief Bank in Scotland. Ptuined by over-issues and drawing and re- 
drawing. See the Wealth of Nations, p. 59. See the Wealth of Nations, p. 56, 
as to the effect of accommodation paper. P. 65, Mr. Law's Mississippi Scheme. 
See M. Duverney, Extracts of Political Reform upon Commerce and Finances. 
lb. p. 66. Bank of England incorporated by Act of Parliament, 27th July, 
1694. It advanced to Government £1,200,000 for an annuity of £100,000 or 
£96,000 a year at the rate of 8 per cent, and £4,000 a year for expenses of 
management. In 1697, its stock was increased to £1,100,171.10. In 1696, 
thalers had been 40-50 and 60 per cent, discount, and bank-notes 20 per cent, 
discount, and it stopped payment during the reeoinage. 1708. In pursuance of 
7 Anne, chapter 7, it paid into the Exchequer £400,000, making in all £1,600,- 
000 which it had advanced upon its annuity of £96,000 and £4,000 for expenses. 
By same Act is cancelled Exchequer bills to £1,775,027,217,10^- a Q'/o aud was 
allowed to take in subscriptions to double its capital, and then from this year 
its capital amounted to £4,402,343, and it had advanced to Government the sum 
of £3,375,027-17,10^. By a call of 15,^ in 1709 and 10^ in 1710, the stock was 
made about £1,157,652 sterling. In pursuance of 3d George I., chapter 8, the 
Bank delivered up £20,000,000 Exchequer bills to be cancelled, making its ad- 
vances to Government £5,375,027-17.10^. In pursuance of 8 George L, chap- 
ter 21, the Bank purchased South Sea Company Stock to £4,000,000 — total, 
£9,375,027-17,10. 1722. — It took in subscriptions to enable it to make this 
purchase, and thus increased its capital by £3,400,000 so that its capital was 
£8,959,995-14,8. This sum less than its advances. 1746.— In this year it 
advanced to Government, and consequently its undivided capital amounted to 
£11,686,800, and its divided capital, or debts due to stockholders, was £10,780,- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 271 

000. In 4 G-eorge III., chapter 25, it paid to Government £110,000 for a renewal 
of its cbarter. The rate of interest it has received has been from 8 to 3 per 
cent. For some years past its dividends have been 5^-;^. No other Bankino- 
Company in England can be established by Act of Parliament, or consist of 
more than six persons. 

It receives and pays annuities due to creditors. 

It circulates Exchequer bills. 

It advances to Government the annual amount of the land and malt taxes, 
■which are frequently not paid till years afterward. 

BANKS OF DEPOSIT— THAT OF AMSTERDiVM. 

The credits on the booh 3 of the Bank being guaranteed by the Government, 
were always equal in value to the true and legal standard of its currency ; and 
better than the ordinary currency, the value of which was depreciated by its 
being made up of light and clipped coin, and the baser coin of the adjoining 
countries. The difference has been as much as 9 per cent. 

In 1609, the Bank of Amsterdam was established under the guarantees of 
the city. It received foreign and light coin on deposit at its real and intrinsic 
value, deducting the expense of coinage and management. For the value, after 
these deductions, it gave a credit on its Banks, which was called " Bank 
Money." 

All bills over 6,000 guilders were made payable in " Bank Money, and con- 
sequently the value was certain ; and this law made it necessary that every 
merchant should have a credit there to pay his foreign bills ; which was obtained 
by making a deposit. These deposits constituted the capital; -} per cent, was 
paid for keeping them in silver, and h for those in gold. 

Note. — This paper was prepared and a copy sent to President Jackson, 
that he might be informed correctly as to the Bank of England. A memoir 
was also prepared and sent to him, giving a brief history of Banking and Bills 
of Exchange, from the beginning ; embracing the Bank of Genoa and Amster- 
dam, with their origin and functions. This was done because, although the 
President talked much about a Bank he could form connected with the Treas- 
ury, it was believed he had very little knowledge of the subject. 

PROJECT. 

A project to establish Offices of Deposit to assist the Fiscal operations of 
the Government, and to establish a uniform currency : 

" 1st. Offices of deposit shall be established in New York, Philadelphia, &c., 
(selecting such places on the sea-board and the interior as are most convenient for 
receiving the public revenue), and such other places as Congress may from time to 
time select. 

"2d. These offices shall be under the direction of five Commissioners, one of whom 
to be designated as President, to be appointed as Congress may direct. These officers 



272 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

shall be appointed for one year, and shall not be appointed longer than for three 
years in succession. 

" 3d. The Commissioners for the time being shall have power to appoint, with 
the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury, a Cashier and such other officer?, 
clerks, and servants under them, as shall be necessary for executing the business of 
the said office ; and to allow them such compensation, with the assent of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, as shall for the services respectively be reasonable ; and shall 
be capable of exercising such other powers and authorities for the well governing 
and ordering of the said officers, as shall be prescribed, fixed, and determined by the 
laws, regulations, and ordinances of the said office of deposit.- 

" 4th. The Revenues of the Government of the United States shall be deposited 
in these offices, to be held by the said Commissioners in trust for the said Govern- 
ment, or to the credit of such officers thereof as Congress may direct. 

"5th. The said Commissioners of the said offices respectively shall furnish the 
Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time, as often as he may require, not exceed- 
ing once a week, with statements of the amount of the deposits made in their offices 
respectively ; and also with the amount of notes issued by them respectively, distin- 
guishing the amounts of deposits on public and private account, the amount of specie 
or public stock on hand ; and the said Secretary shall have a right to inspect such 
general accounts on the books of the Bank as shall relate to such statement ; pro- 
vided that this shall not be construed into a right in the Commissioners to state the 
names and amounts of individual depositors, or in the Secretary of the Treasury to 
inspect the account of any private individuals with the Bank. 

" 6th. The said Commissioners shall receive on deposit, and hold in trust to the 
use of the person who may deposit the same, any sum of money of any individual, or 
individuals, or body corporate, and give the depositor credit on their books for the 
same in gold or silver coin of the United States, or in gold coin of Spain, or the do- 
minions of Spain, at the rate of 100 cents for every 28 grains, and sixty -hundredths 
of a grain of the actual weight thereof, or in other gold or silver coin, at the several 
rates prescribed by the 1st Section of an Act, regulating the currency of foreign coins, 
of the United States, passed 10th April, 1806. 

" Vth. The said Commissioners of the respective offices shall, at their said offices, 
redeliver to the depositor, upon his check, the amount of such deposit, in gold or 
silver coin, at the rate above mentioned ; or in the notes of the said office, payable 
on demand in like coin, deducting from the amount of said deposit J of one per cent. 
iov the safe-keeping of the same. 

" 8th. Each depositor may, upon giving notice of his intention to leave his funds 
deposited for the term of ninety days, receive a note payable at the end of that period, 
with interest at the rate of — per cent, per annum ; andif the said note shall be pre- 
sented for payment, and paid before it shall have become due, the interest shall not, 
nor shall any part thereof be paid thereon. The Commissioners shall be at liberty, 
upon the presentation of any such post note before it falls due, to pay the same or 
not, as the interest or convenience of the said office may require. If any post note 
shall not be presented at the office where it was issued, when it falls due, or within 
three days thereafter, the interest on said note shall not be computed for a longer 
time than up to the day it became payable. 

" 9th, The said Commissioners may issue notes upon deposits payable on 
demand, or payable at_the end of ninety days, on interest as is above stated, but no 



UEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 273 

note shall be issued for a sum less than five dollars. All notes issued by the Com- 
missioners of said offices respectively shall be signed by the President and Cashier 
of such office, and payable to bearer at their offices respectively. 

" 10th. The Commissioners of such offices respectively may from time to time 
under the direction and with the assent of the Secretary of the Treasury, invest in 
the public stock of the United States, or of the several States, 10 per cent, of the gross 
amount of the deposits made in their respective offices. The said stock to be held 
^by the said Com^li^;sioners in trust to pay the amount of the said deposits, the notes 
issued thereon, and the interest to accrue on such of the said notes as may be at 
interest, as is hereinbefore stated, and they shall receive the interest or dividends 
on said stock, and reinvest the same in other public stocks, which stock shall be held 
by the said Commissioners in trust as aforesaid. 

" 11th. The notes or bills of the said Commissioners, originally made payable on 
demand, or which shall have been payable on demand, shall be receivable in all pay- 
ments to the United States unless otherwise directed by Congress. 

" 12th. The said Commissioners, when directed by the Secretary of the Treasury 
shall give the necessary facilities for transferring the public funds from place to place 
within the United States or the Territories thereof, and for distributing the same in 
payment of the public creditors, and shall also do and perform the several and 
respective duties of the Commissioners of loans for the several States, or of any one 
or more of them when required by law. 

" 13th. Adopt the 18th and 19th sections of the Act to incorporate the Bank of the 
United States, passed April 10, 1816 (see IngersolFs Digest, Edition 1821, p. 93), 
allowing them so as to make them conform to this project. 

COLLECTION OF PUBLIC EEVENUE. 

"14th. All bonds,* contracts, or other engagements for the payment of money 
to the United States, as well as all money received by any of its officers or other 
persons belonging to the United States, shall forthwith and without delay be de- 
posited for collection or safe keeping in such one of the said offices as shall be most 
convenient to the said officer or other person who may take the said bonds, &c., or 
collect and receive the said moneys, and as may be designated for that purpose by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, the Commissioner of the Land Office, or the Agent 
of the Treasury. 

" 15th. The Collectors of the several ports of the United States shall daily and 
every day, as bonds are executed to secure the payment of duties to the United States, 
deposit for collection copies of the said bonds in such one of the said offices of 
deposit as may be most convenient lo the Custom House of said port, and as shall 
be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, and the said Collector so depositing 
the said bonds shall be charged with the same. The said Collector shall also daily 
and every day deposit in the said office all suras of money received by him in pay- 
ment of duties, or on deposit to secure the payment of duties, and all sums of money 
received by him for fees, fines, penalties, forfeitures, or otherwise being the receipts 
of his said office, and shall be charged with the amount of the same. 

" 16th. The said Collector who shall be so charged w^ith the said bonds, or with 

* The duties at this time were paid by bonds. 
18 



274 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the said sums of money, sliall be discharged from the amount of such of the said 
bonds as shall be paid whenever he shall draw for the same to the credit of the 
Treasurer of the United States, and also for tlie amount of such of the said, bonds 
as are not paid wlienever they are transferred to the account of the District Attor- 
ney of the United States in manner hereafter mentioned. And the said Collector 
shall be credited, with such of the said sums of money so deposited as aforesaid by and 
charged to liim as he shall disburse in the course of the business, or expenses of 
his office, and as he shall transfer to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States 
in manner hereafter mentioned. 

" 17th, All payments by the said Collector shall be made upon the check of the 
Cashier of his Custom House, countersigned by the Collector or one of his deputies, 
and made payable to the order of the person receiving the snme ; and the said check 
shall on the back thereof contain a brief statement of the account for which the 
said check is given ; whether for a return of deposits, or for payment of salaries, or 
other expenses. 

*'18th. Whenever any such bond or bonds shall remain unpaid on the day it 
falls due, it shall be the duty of the said Commissioner to cause a copy of s:iid bond or 
bonds, as soon after the said office shall be closed as may be, to be sent to the office of 
the District Attorney of the United States for the said district, and charge him with 
the same in account with the said bank, and the said District Attorney shall forthwith 
put the said^bond in suit, and prosecute the same with effect; and the said Attorney 
shall be discharged from the amount of the said bonds so charged against him, or 
such parts thereof as shall be paid, and for the residue thereof whenever he shall 
deposit in the said bank a certificate of the Clerk of the District Court of the dis- 
trict to which he is appointed, that a judgment has been recovered on such bond, 
and that an execution has been issued therein against the property of the defendant, 
against whom the the said judgment is entered, together with the certificate of the 
Marshal of the said or any other district, that he has received such execution from 
the said Attorney, or if none of the parties to the said bonds or their representa- 
tives are found by the said Marshal, the said District Attorney shall be discliarged 
from the amount of said bonds whenever he shall deposit in the said Bank a certi- 
ficate of the Clerk of said Court that a writ has been returned non est inventus. 
The District Attorney shall be paid his costs in such suits to be taxed by the Judge 
of the Court in which the same is instituted by the Collector by whom the said 
bond was taken, whenever he shall be discharged from the amount of any of the 
bonds so charged against him, provided the said costs have not been paid by the 
defendants in the said suits. 

" 19th. The Marshal who shall receive the said execution from the District At- 
torney shall be charged with the amount directed to be levied thereupon, and shall 
be discharged from the same by payment into tlie said office of deposit the amount 
collected by him on the said execution, or upon depositing in the said office of 
deposit a certificate of the Clerk of said Court and of the said District Attorney, 
that the said execution has been returned unsatisfied. 

'• 20th. All further proceedings for the purpose of recovering the amount due 
upon the said bofids or judgments, must be upon a case submitted to the Agent of 
the Treasury, and by his direction. 

"21st. The receivers of moneys for the sale of lands must be required to make 
deposits, &c., but not being sufficiently acquainted therewith, I omit remark. " 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON". 275 

Notes explanatory of the above were sent with the Project. 

*'ls#. The offices are independent of each other. These offices are rendered distinct 
and independent of each other, because there does not arise out of their formation 
or i>urposes an indispensable connection. When the funds of the Government are 
transferred by either to another, such funds will he received as a deposit ; and so 
cari-ied to the credit of the officer of the Government to whose Department tliey 
belong ; and the transfer will he made in money of standard value or notes converti- 
ble into such money. If notes issued upon private deposits, they will be received 
in any of the offices in payment of debts to the Government, and may be re-issued 
for public purposes, but there will not be an indispensable obligation to pay them 
at any other office than that whence they originated. If those issued at New 
OrL'.ms are carried into Ohio, and then carried to the Bank or Office of Deposit in 
payment of a debt due to the Government for land, they will be received, and the 
Government will disburse those funds there; or the office there having these notes, 
will be enabled to draw through the office at New York, or any other office, upon 
New Orleans, or througli New Orleans upon New York, as the exigencies of the 
Government or the course of Exchange may require. Or if the planter of Tennessee 
receives for his cotton the notes of the office at New Orleans, and with these pays 
his debt to his merchant (^r to the Government at home, these notes may be trans- 
ferrel by the merchant who obtains his goods at New York, Baltimore, or Philadel- 
phia to either of these places, and then the shipper at such place who purchases 
and sends the cotton from New Orleans to Europe or brings it to New York or for 
the manufacturers will seek these notes, as a convenient means for paying his debt 
at New Orleans, and thus the currency or exchanges between the different parts of 
the country, so far as the operations of those offices extend, will be sound, and as 
equ 1 as it ever can be ; being subject always to those differences of exchange which 
depend upon demand and supply, or the relation of Debtor and Creditor. 

" As there is no necessary connection, so there is no dependence of one of these 
offices upon any other. Therefore, and for various other very cogent reasons, the 
officers of what in tlie present bank are deemed branches, are not to be appointed by 
a Principal office; but all are alike selected by, and dependent upon, the Government 
and its aj^ents, consequently the deep local jealousies excited by the present system 
will liappily be avoided. The number of Commissioners is limited to five, because 
a greater number is unnecessary discreetly to manage the affairs of the offices, 
and a less number might not be safe. These officers ought to be paid (except the 
Pre-i lent, who should be amply compensated for the employment of his whole time) 
a slight remuneration for their services out of the profits of the office. To avoid 
this expense in part, I have supposed it might be considered proper to make the 
Judg i of the District, the District Attorney, and the Collector, or one or two of these 
offivTS, directors ex-officio ; of which an additional advantage would be that the 
District Judge, being permanent, would acquire and carry along in the administra- 
tion of its affairs that knowledge from experience, which is so important to an 
enliglitened discharge of these duties; and the ground for clamor which must 
be expected to be raised against this plan, from the extended patronage and power 
of the Government, through these appointments, would be removed. 

" If the Commissioners had the power to make loans or discounts, the strongest 
and most obvious reasons would require that the number should bo far greater 



276 REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The managers of such an institution should not only be numerous, but they should 
be engaged in business, as merchants or traders — in order that, by the extended 
sphere of their intercourse with the mercantile community, they might bring to the 
Board of Directors an intimate and correct knowledge of the business aiiairs and 
character of their dealers, and of the course of the business of the country ; whereas, 
in such an institution as this, where nothing is trusted, where all dealers are 
received alike, none can from any circumstances be entitled to a preference, or be 
objects of suspicion. 

"The course of the business of these officers would require these managers also 
to be informed of the situation of the public stocks, and as far as anticipations 
could safely be relied upon, of its probable future value, in order that the investments 
they are authorized to make might be judicious ; further than this the business of 
these officers would be almost merely clerical. The 6th, 8th, and 9th Articles refer 
to deposits by individtials ; interest, and deposit fee. The deposits by individuals 
is authorized in order to create a currency of a sound character, and thus generally 
to benefit the community ; but coupled with the provisions of the 8th Article, it 
will be of infinite value as a security to all classes of the community, as well the 
large and small dealers as the thrifty poor. The danger of loss to those who keep 
their funds locked up at home is great not only from fire or theft, but because being 
within reacb and idle the possessor is induced to expend more liberally in his 
pleasures or his household than he would do if his means were at interest ; he is 
also, by having bis funds in his hands, induced more readily to yield to the applica- 
tion of his friends for temporary loans ; or to engage in speculation, "Whereas, if 
he has a safe and advantageous place of deposit, of ready resort, and from which 
he can draw his money at any time his own interest dictates, it will not be exposed 
to the dangers to which I have referred, all of which, except the loss by fire or theft, 
in a limited degree attend deposits without interest in ordinary banks. Persons 
who are under the necessity of collecting and accumulating their gains in order to 
meet engagements at given periods, will make their deposits at interest, and will 
give the notice required, because they will find that they can at any time sell the 
post note at interest to the amount stipulated to be paid by it, together with a great 
part of the interest, whenever they may require their funds in order to meet their 
engagements. The same course will be pursued by those who live upon other 
means, and those who are under the necessity of keeping funds to be invested in 
their business, whenever the state of the market or the course of their proceedings 
may require them to use their funds. Indeed, a course of most obvious reasoning, 
founded upon the ready convertibility of these post notes into money, the absolute 
security and these being at interest, renders it manifest that most if not all the 
deposits willbe made for ninety days, at least ; and that these notes will form a very 
large portion of the circulating medium, provided " the warehouse rent " or amount 
for safe keeping paid on depositing or renewal is not too high ; and the interest 
allowed is not so low as to take away almost all the profit. 

" Let us test the truth of this position by a practical illustration : A, a retail 
dealer, who has a note to pay at another bank of 2,000 dollars on a particular day, 
say thirty days in advance, receives from his business or his debtors that sum of 
money ; as he cannot invest it in stocks, because of the fluctuations, or in merchandise, 
because by being compelled to sell at a given period, he may sustain a loss, he can- 
not loan it to his friend, because he thus incurs the risk of that friend's solvency 



I 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 277 

and impunctnality. At preseut, it is deposited ]n a bank where it is profitably used, 
or be keeps it at bome incurring all the risks to wliich I have referred. But should 
these offices be established, he will deposit his money at interest, pay the fee on 
depositing it, take the post note, and when tlie time arrives at which he must use 
his money he will sell or exchange the note for the principal thereof, and the 
interest which may have accrued thereon, for thirty days. 

"Or this dealer, instead of being a depositor, will, to avoid the fee on deposit 
purchase a note which has a sufficient length of time to run to meet his engagement, 
and the interest he pays in addition to the principal for the note on which he will 
not receive interest, will be compensated by his not paying the deposit fee. These 
notes will always bear a price in market so precisely equal to their intrinsic value, 
which will be greater than specie, that they will never be presented for payment 
until they become due, and thus they will take the place of all notes not of equal 
security and bearing an equal rate of interest ; and to obtain which an equal sum 
is paid upon their first issue. And thus it is most probable, that the rule requiring 
notice to be given of an intention to leave the deposit in bank for the required 
period will be almost nugatory. 

" Tlie notice is, however, required to be given, in order to authorize the com- 
missions without the risk of being unable to meet their engagements, to invest the 
amounts deposited in stocks, and upon advantageous terms, for it is by such invest- 
ments tliat they are to be enabled to pay the interest upon deposits. But as it is 
not intended that tlie profits arising from the deposit fee on the surplus interest 
should be a source of revenue to the Government, the amount of the fee will be 
made as low, and the rate of interest as high, as can be consistently with the pay- 
ment of the expenses of the several Institutions. 

"But as the dividends on stocks purchased by the Commissioners will not be 
payable except at stated periods, and as the interest or deposits will become due 
and payable or be reinvested every day, the offices will be required to pay com- 
pound when they will only receive simple interest, and as the offices mny be re- 
quired to purchase stocks at a premium, and may not receive more than par, or 
sell them at a depreciation, and thus incur a loss, it is necessary in regulating the 
rate of interest to be paid on the notes to take these suggestions into view, in 
regulating the rate of interest and deposit fee. 

" 10th. Power to Commisdoners to invest in stocks 2^er cent, of gross receipts. This 
power is given to the Commissioners in order to enable them to meet the expenses 
of these Institutions, and to pay the interest on deposits. There can be no dinger 
that from tliis provision the Bank will be unable to meet its engagements. The 
Government deposits will probaldy amount to tweiity-five millions; 10 per cent, on 
that will be two and a half millions, which is not more than one half of the 
sur[)lus which has remained in the Treasury for the last five years, and will not bo 
greater ; this will remain unappropriated during the continuance of peace ; this^ 
therefore, is a fund always at hand to meet a pressure, if one could possibly happen, 
and the interest on this two and one half millions, supposing there are no indi\idual 
deposits that are nut at interest at 4|- per cent., will yield a sum of at least 100,000 
dollars per annum, to meet expenses and interest on deposits. In addition, it may 
be ialrly inferred that a considerable number of the notes not at interest, will be 
kept in circulation; such notes will be issued on all payments by the Government^ 
and also notes at interest, owing to inatteniion or from thtir having wandered too 



278 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

far from home, frequently aod fur a considerable length of time remain past due, 
and will not consequently draw interest, \YLile others will he lost and destr.-yed. 
These are circumstances that may fairly be calculattd upon as affording a rensonable 
presumption that no evil or inconvenience can result from this proposed investment 
often per cent, of the gross receipts; or from the payment of interest on deposits 
at Sfc, should it extend even to the whole amount of the deposits made by individuals. 

"An objection may be made that these investments are hazardous, because the 
Stocks of the United States are fast diminishing, and wiil shortly altogether cease 
to be a means of investment, when resort must be had to the Stock of the Stites. 
In answer to this, it may be said that, whenever the means of secure and profitable 
investments cease, the offices -will cease receiving deposits on interest, ar.d will be 
restrained from making investments; but although the Stocks of tlie United States 
should be paid off, assuredly those of some of the States, will afford appropriate 
sources of investments, and it is believed tbey will continue to exist for an indefinite 
period of time. The amount of investments, the kind of stock, whether United 
States or States, and which of the States, as well as the rate at which they are to be 
purchased, are all suhject to the determinations of the Secretary of the Treasury; 
while the character of the Commissioners, and their continuance in office, which 
will depend upon the faithful and prudent execution of their trusts, afibrds some 
security to the public. 

" The simplicity of this machine, is such as always to enable the Government 
to supervise and control its operalions. Its actual state is so readily ascertained ; 
the amount of specie, and of stock on hand, and the amount of debts of the offices 
are susceptible of immediate and precise ascertainment, and in this respect this 
Project differs mo^-t widely from a Uank of Discount whose situation must always 
depend upon the solvency of its debtors, and is, therefore, if its business has 
approaciied tiie limit of its ability, always uncertain to say the limit of it. 

'■'■llth. Collection of the public rerenue. — 1st. The provisions to this end are 
governed by a conviction that no part of the revenue should remain a moment in 
the possession of the receiver of it, or subject to his control further than may be 
necessary to meet lawful and current disbursements; and particularly that lie siiould 
not have the power of miniiling them with his own funds, and thus, under the 
allurement of even the best founded expectations of returning them, be indue d to 
lend thera to others or to employ them himself. 

"2d. All Duty Bonds are required to be deposited, and thus, if they ae paid, 
as is sometimes the case, before they become due, as well as when they arrive at 
maturity, the money is paid into the bank, and there fixe;l bayond the control of 
the cidlector or his ag^-nts: again, when the bonds lay over unpaiil at maturity, by 
being immediately charged against the District Attorney, the Collector or his 
Cashier cannot receive a gratuity for forbearing to put them in suit, or receive a 
check payable at a future day, as they might now do; they are beyond his cntrol; 
and another officer receives tliem, whose int^-rest as well as duty it is immediately 
to put them in suit, and perhaps there might be properly added an article requiring 
the Di-trict Attorney to make weekly reports of all suits instituted on Bonds, and 
the Marshal to make a like return of all writs received^ by him ; and thus the one 
would be a clieck upon the other, while the weekly returns of the Bank of the 
Bonds paid, or those put in suit, would be a test of the accuracy of the CoLector, 
District Attorney, and Marshal. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 279 

"As soon as a bond Liys over, the duties of the Collector -in regard to it cease 
and those of another officer begin; and the one ought, therefore, to be discharo-ed 
and the other charged with its amount, and as soon as there is judgment recorded 
and execution issued, the duties of another officer (the Marshal) commence, and he 
is then chargeable with the amount. In this way, the Government will secure the 
most prompt and efficient measures to obtain judgment and executions, and after 
executions to obtain whatever amount can be raised out of the property of the 
debtors, or the best evidence that he has no property. A very large amount of 
money in some of the collective districts is received daily for duties and fees, and 
on deposit this money is subject to the control of the Cashier or Collector, and may 
be carried by either of them under the present system to their private account, and 
thus be held by them or mingled with their own funds. And they ought, in order 
to avoid the evils and temptations consequent upon such a state of things, be required 
to return every day, as soon as the Custom House closes, to the Bank the amount 
received, with a copy of the entries of such receipts. The returns required to be 
made by the Collector could be tested at the Treasury by those required to 
be made by these offices — and thus as much fidelity and accuracy would be obtained 
as is practicable. It is hardly necessary for me to add that these suggestions are 
not made in order to correct known evils, but that they are drawn from that course 
of reflection which naturally results from the fallibility of man, and the frauds which 
history teaches us all governments have been exposed to. 

II. DISBURSEMENT OF PUBLIC MONEYS. 

"Under the present system, or rather from the want of Legislative regulations 
the disbursing officers receive the public funds upon the warrant of the Treasury, 
or the check of the Treasurer; and they carry them to their private accounts if de- 
posited at all, or they keep them by them. Both courses are irregular, and ought 
to be changed. Public funds ought always to be carried to the credit of the dis- 
bursing officer in his official character, and those accounts with the Banks in which 
they are kept ought always to be open to the inspection of the officers of the Depart- 
ment to which such disbursing officer is accountable; nay, more, the Bank in which 
the deposit is made ought to be designated, and copies of the accounts of such officers 
ought to be rendered to the Treasury at given periods, and all checks which are 
paid ought, whenever the officer's account is balanced in his Bank book, to be re- 
turned to the Department or officer at Washington who settles his account as a 
check upon his vouchers. In addition, no public moneys ought to be drawn by a 
disbursing officer from the place of deposit, except on a check payable to the order 
of the person to whom it is given, having on the back of it a short receipt for the 
money. The consequence of these regulations will be that, in ordinary times, no 
officer will be a defaulter, except so far as his vouchers may be irregular, or through 
mistake he may have misapplied his funds by paying on account which does not 
come within his sphere of duties. 

"January, 1834. James A. IIamiltox." 

These efforts to enligHten the President, made at his request, were wholly 
unavailing. He bad determined, before he came to Washington, to destroy the 
Bank of the United States; and after that was done to use the State Banks as 



280 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the fiscal agents of the Government. The result was a most disastrous infla- 
tion of the currency, reckless speculation, and the extended ruin of 1837. 

Martin Van Buren to James A. Hamilton. 

""Washington, February 11, 1834. 
" My Dear Sir : The extreme pressure of my avocations has hitherto prevented 
me from saying what I ought long since to have done, that I appreciate aright your 
motives in the letter you liave written me upon tlie subject of the removals, &c. ; and 
that although we may not agree upon all points, I shall never think otherwise than 
well of your disposition and intentions. The President informed me some days since 
that he had written you ; and you will see by the GloU of this morning a repetition 
of his views. The times will be hard, and the struggle a great one ; but the patriot- 
ism and fortitude of the people will triumph over all obstacles. Be sure of it. 

"Yours truly, in haste, &c." 

William B. Lewis to Col. James A. Hamilton. ' 

""Washington, February 18, 1834. 
"My Dear Colonel: I have been trying, for the last three days, to acknowledge 
the receipt of yours of the 10th instant, without being able to do so, and have time 
only noAV to sny a very few words. In the first place, then, there is no truth in the 
report that Mr. McLane is going out of office, lie has no intention of resigning, I 
am sure; and I am equally certain that the President does not wish him to resign. 
Harmony and good feeling exist in the Cabinet, and the President's confidence in its 
members individually is undiminished. In the next place, the President will not 
listen to any proposition with regard to a new Bank, any more than he will to the 
renewal of the charter of the present Bank. He is determined to try the State Banks 
as fiscal agents. If the Government cannot get along with them, he says it will then 
be time enough to charter another United States Bank. I think your suggestions 
with regard to some plan, in case the local Banks will not answer, is marked 
with sound discretion, and entitled to much weight. An able general never goes 
into battle without providhig the means of a safe retreat in case he should fail in 

beating his enemy. 

"Yours sincerely, &c." 

MONEY RAISED TO SUCCOR THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

Having been informed that ]\rajor Barry, the Post-Master Groneral, was 
much distressed for want of means to carry on his Department, I addressed a 
letter to him on the loth March, 1834, oifering, provided the President should 
approve of my doing so, to raise for him as much money as he required. 

On the 15th March, he wrote to me thus : 

" I have received your very kind letter of the 13th instant. Have prepared and 
forwarded several bills, say $r),000 each, to the amount of $50,000, to Col. James Ree- 
side, to be signed by him on the Post Office Department, payable to your order, 
which I have had accepted, with a request that Col. Reeside will repair at once to 
New York and see you on the subject. This, if the matter can be arranged, will be 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 281 

of signal service to tlie Department, and enable it to rub tlirough tbe present 
pressure. * * 

"The President sent your letter to him to me, and duly appreciates tlie noble oifer 
you make. It has made an indelible impression on the mind and heart of your sin- 
cere and grateful friend, 

" W. T. Barry." 

James A. Hamilton to tue Ho>f. W. T. Bahry, Post-Master General. 

" New York, March 25, 1834. 

" Dear Sir : . In my endeavors to raise funds required on the drafts furnished by 

Mr. Reeside, I found that they were discredited by the Banks, and generally with 

individuals. I, therefore, except as to one which I cashed myself, substituted my 

own notes, secured by 'New York Life Insurance and Trust Company Stock.' The 

particulars of these operations are as follows : 

"1. My note for $5,000, dated March 19, payable on the 
22d May next, disco jnted at the Bank of New Yurk. 
Proceeds $ 4,947 40 

" 2. My note to Mr. Atwater, dated 1 9th March, for $20,000, 
payable in four months, with interest on the face of 
the note at the rate of 6^ per annum. Prime, "Ward 

& King— procet'ds at that rate of interest 19,590 14 

Note. — I paid, in addition to the above rate of interest, 
the sum of $050, being S^ for usury, ^'fo for bro- 
kerage. Tliis amount Mr. Gouverneur, P. M., has 
agreed to pay me. 
"3. Mr. Eeeside's draft, dated 15th March, for $5,000, 
payable 15th May next, discounted at the Manhattan 
Bank. Proceeds 4,947 40 

" 4. My note for $5,000, dated 24tli March, @, 60 days, dis- 
counted at the Manhattan Bank. Proceeds 4,947 50 

Total amount subject to your order, as per former 

letter $34,432 44 

"I will deposit the drafts I hold for collection, or substitute others you may fur- 
nish, corresponding with the days of payment of my notes, as you please. The only 
point of interest with me is, that my stock should not, by a failure of punctual pay- 
ment, be subjected to a sale, as I should thus incur a loss of several thousand dollars. 

" Your friend, &c." 

The Hon. "W. T. Barry to James A. Hamilton. 

"April 12, 1834. 
"Dear Sir: From some queries made by the Examining Committee in relation 
to Loans of the Post Office Department, I am satisfied that by some means they are 
informed of your agency, &c., &c. I have left all the matters entirely in the Jiands 
of Mr. Gouverneur, P. M., and can know nothing of his and your arrangements, as 
to terms, &c., &c. I hold tlie Department bound to guarantee whatever ^Ir. Gou- 
verneur stipulates for, as he acts upon full authority, and has my entire confidence. 

"Sincerely & truly yours." 

This effort to assist a member of the administration, gave me mucTi trouble 



282 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

and some vexation, at the hazard of serious pecuniary loss. The loans I made 
to obtain funds, were required to be renewed from time to time, I was drawn 
into a correspondence which commenced in 1834, was extended to 1838, and 
embraced over forty letters. It is quite unnecessary to say that I was, in no 
manner whatever, benefitted by it. The books of account of that department 
were so defective that, when Mr. Kendall went into the office of Post-Master 
General, I was called upon by him to make a statement of the transaction, 
which I did in a letter now before me, addressed to Amos Kendall, Post-Mas- 
ter General, dated March 2, 183G, and another to the same, dated the 22d of 
the same month. 

William B. Lewis to Col, James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, March 30, 1834. 

" My Deae Col. : I am glad you intend exerting yourself at your charter election. 
Your services are due to the Old Chief, who has always been your friend, if not to 
other?. Tills is his last and greatest struggle, and we should neither desert him, nor 
even be lukewarm in this, his greatest need. If he succeeds— and I have now no 
doubt of it— in prostrating the Bank, and overthrowing his enemies, Ms evening sun 
will be brigliter and more glorious than his morning sun. Things are looking well 
to the Soutli. Yii-giida, I feel confident, will be regenerated and redeemed. The 
opposition in the Senate are cast down and look desponding. Clay's last speech 
upon his resolutions, was considered a failure by his own friends ; but he carried his 
resolutions, and even "Webster voted for them. Yours truly, &c, 

" P. S. — Have you any doubt of succeeding at your election ? I hope not; yet I 
confess I have my fears. The strongest ground to take with the people is the fact 
that, under the existing arrangement with the State Banks, the whole revenue col- 
lected through your Custom House is left to be disbursed in your own city, instead 
of being transferred to a neighboring rival city. Our friends should ring the changes 
upon this view of the case in every quarter of the city. Tell Swartwoutto pull off 
his coat and roll up his sleeves also ; but, perhaps, as he has to go through the ' glo- 
rious Senate,' it would not be prudent for him to do so. Price, as his nomination will 
be certainly confirmed before the 8th, must do his own and Swartwout's part too. 
The Senate was on Executive business yesterday evening. I have not heard what 
they have done — perhaps they acted on Price's nomination, and confirmed it; but I 
have no information upon the subject. Yours, «fcc," 

William B. Lewis to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, December 10, 1834. 
"My Deak Col. : I know, my dear sir, no reason why you and T shall not cor- 
respond with the same confidence and freedom that has heretofore characterized our 
intercourse. My confidence is undiminished, and my friendship and personal regard 
the same now that it has heretofore been, and I hope and believe it will ever so con- 
tinue. I know it is the disposition of some to doubt the sincerity or fidelity of all 
who do not approve indiscriminately , every thing that is said and done by those who 
are called the leaders of the party. Not so with me, nor is it so with him for whom 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 283 

both you and I have so long and so zealously toiled. Even I, after 25 years' devo- 
tion to tiiat individual, am suspected of a want of fidelity by some of the cxclvsives 
of the present day. I, however, regard them not, and I hope you will be equally in- 
different to the slanders of such contemptible creatures. Congress, a^ yet, has done 
nothing. I suppose they will get under way next week. The opposition leaders 
are at a loss what to do in relation to that part of the Message which speaks of our 
affairs with regard to France. They have the disposition to assail it, but I think 
they are afraid of the eftect it may have both upon our country and France. Be- 
sides, many of the leading opposition men are directly or indirectly interested in 
those claims, and it is believed, if strong opposition is made to the Messnge, it may 
encoui'age France to delay the payment. One of the on dits of the day is, that Judge 
"White of Tennessee will certainly be run for the Presidency. I am unable to say 
whether the rumor is or is not well founded, as I have had no conversation with 
either the Judge or his immediate friends. Of one thing I feel confident", however, 
that he will not suffer himself to be used, or rather used V2^i ^Y the opposition. 

" Truly yours, &c." 

Col. Wm. B. Lewis to Col. JajIes A. Hamilton. 

" "Washington, February 2, 1835. 

" My Dear Col. : You will have seen an account before this reaches you of the 
diabolical attempt to assassinate the President. The account in the Globe may be 
relied on as correct, to which 1 refer you for such additional fitcts and circumstances 
in relation to that horrid aft';iir as may from time to time transpire. It is intended 
to keep the public correctly informed with regard to the matter through that chan- 
nel. 

" Your truly, <S:c." 

This attempt was made by a madman. 

James A. Hamilton to President Jackson. 

"New Yoek, February 16, 1835. 

" My Dear Sir : An arrival yesterday brings us Havre dates to the 13th ultimo. 
Your Message had reached that place and had been duly forwarded to Paris. "We 
consequently have no notice of its effect upon the government. The opposition pa- 
pers of Havre aflect to consider its tone as the result of an understanding between 
the Executives of the two countries. The Paris papers, anticipating the tone of the 
Message, affect to consider it as the result of the efforts of those who are interested 
m the claims. These preposterous views lead me to believe that the Chambers have 
not come to their senses, and consequently that there will be nothing left to us but 
to take such measures as may be necessary to vindicate our rights and honor. 

" Under a strong conviction that eventually there w^ ill be war, I now protler my 
services la any employment, civil or military, at home or abroad, in which 1 can be 
useful, I prefer the Army, because there maybe more honor won there than many 
other line, and in reference to any, however humble, pretensions I might Ijave, al- 
low me to state briefly my course during the last war. 

" When the contest thickened, and there was reason to believe that the Army 



284 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

over wliich you achieved so brilliant a victory at New Orleans, might be destined 
for this city, I tendered ray services to Gov. Tompkins in any situation in which I 
could be useful. He accepted them most readily, and upon an emergency appointed 
me to the humble post of an Assistant Deputy Quartermaster, requiring me at the 
same time to perform the duly of Issuing Commissary. I cheerfully Aveighed out 
beef, pork, and bread for the whole brigade for about a fortnight, when I was ap- 
pointed its Brigade Major where I served to the close of the war. 

" It having been contemplated to raise a considerable force by the State, Mr. 
Van Bureu has the merit of carrying tlje project out. The governor informed me 
that he would, when the force should ba raisod, give me a regiment. I refer to these 
circumstances, together with my advanced age and condition, and my recent connec- 
tion with the government, that you may take them into view in giving me military 
employment, without meaning, however, to make terms with my country, entitled 
as she is to my best services in any situation in which I can be useful to her. 

"With sincere respect, 

" Your friend, &c." 

Col. William B. Lewis to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, March 14, 1835. 

"My Dear Col.: Yours of the 11th inst. has this moment been received and 
road. Although the information you communicate comes from a source entitled to 
great weight, still I am in hopes the result will be different from that anticipated. 
It certainly does not accord with tlie information — private as well as official — re- 
ceived by us in this city. But Gen'l Bernard and G. W. LaFayette may be right, 
and our correspondents wrong, and I confess it would not surprise me if it; were so. 
I received by the last Havre packet a letter from Levitt Harris, who is now in Paris, 
in which he says the Ministers count on a majority of from twenty to forty (and 
that is also Ju's opinion ) in favor of the appropriation. I received by the same pack- 
et another letter which is entitled to still greater welgJit, as it comes from an officer 
belonging to one of the great departments of the French government, and who is 
fully in the confidence of the Ministry, as well as of many of the leading Deputies. 
Herewith I send you an extract, which has been translated by my daughter. From 
this you will perceive that a majority of sixty votes is calculated on. 

" The letter of which the enclosed is an extract is confidential, and is intended 

for your eye only. 

" Sincerely yours, «&c." 

President Jackson to Col. James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, September 17, 1805. 

"My Deau Sir: I have the i)leasure to acknowledge the receipt of your friendly 
letter of the 12!h instant. It brings fresh to my recollection our first acquaintance, 
at.my peaceful Hermitage, w^here I was in the full fruition of rui'al and dumestic hap- 
piness. ^Vhat situation of life can be compared to that of a farmer? What so inde- 
pendent? What so ha])py? The description you have given me of j^our farm, your 
stock, and your improvements, surrounded as you are Avith your amiable familj', 
brings fresh to my memory the happiness with which I was surrounded at the Her- 
mitage, when I had first the pleasure of being introduced to you; and increases my 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 285 

desire once more to return to that peaceful abode, from -\vLich you know I was re- 
luctantly drawn by the call and partiality of my country ; and. where I can with 
truth say I enjoyed the only happy hours allotted to me to enjoy on earth, and 
where, if I am permitted to survive my present official term, I will joyfully return 
although it has lost, by the death of my dear Mrs. J., its better charms. Your pres- 
ent situation, surrounded as you are with your amiable and promising family, enjoy- 
ing all the amusements and sweets of rural life, must afford you more real enjoyment 
and happiness than ever has flown or can flow from official life, even of a President, 
and all subordinate to him in the Republic. You must be happy. In the enjoyment of 
your family around you, the amusement which your farm and flocks afiord, and then 
at leisure moments in your library, what more could man ask for here below, to in- 
crease his happiness ? I answer, Nothing. I sincerely congratulate you on your happy 
condition. May you long live and enjoy that felicity which your situation affords, 
and may your amiable family enjoy long life, health and happiness, and participate 
in all the pleasures your present situation must afford, is the sincere prayer of 

"Your sincere friend, &c. 
" P. S. It will afford me much pleasure to see you at Washington hefi)re 1 retire, 
and still more to see you as a private citizen at the Hermitage, which lam rebuilding 
on its ruined walls, to bear a strict resemblance to what it was when you first saw 
it. I have had a full description of yours from our mutual friend, Major Lewis."^ 

THE GREAT FIRE IN THE CITY OF NEW Y^ORK, 1835. 

In 1835, I and my family had rooms for the winter at the City Hotel, then 
on the west side of Broadway below Liberty Street. The following details are 
found in a paper written in pencil the day after the occurrences happened to 
which they refer : 

I was awakened between eleven and twelve at night, and told a great fire was 
raging in the lower part of the city ; that the Merchants' Exchange was in dan- 
ger, where was the statue of my father by Ball Hughes ; and that I might, by 
going there, be useful in saving that work, I was at the same time told that 
nothing could be done to arrest the fire for want of water ; the engines, their 
leaders and the hydrants being all frozen. I immediately said, powder must be 
used, and went to the fire, I sought the authorities, and meeting aldermen 
Jourdan and Labagh, urged the necessity of blowing up buildings to arrest the 
flames. They replied, " powder cannot be got," I said, " I will procure a let- 
ter to Commodore Bidgely, commanding the Navy Yard, requesting powder." 
Alderman Jourdan turned to Labao-h, and asked him if he would unite with 
him in that proceeding, Labagh said, " I Avill not take the responsibility, the 
Mayor is on the ground, let him do it." Jourdan said, " then I will," and turn- 
ing to me, said, " If you will procure the letter, I will find a man to take it." The 
Hon. Charles Livingston wrote the letter, and Mr. Jourdan sent it with an 
ofBcer. Mr. Charles King accompanied the officer; went with great speed, and 
returned with the letter, with an order endorsed thereon, directing the keeper of 
the Arsenal at Red Hook to deliver powder to the civil authorities of New York. 
During the absence of the messenger, Alderman Jourdan endeavored to get a 



28G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

meeting of the Aldermen and Mayor at Lovcjoy's, corner of Nassau and Cedar 
streets, and with Mr. * * * a former member of the Fire Department. General 
Swift and myself went to the different points to leeward where the fire was 
raging, to determine where the powder could be used most effectually, ttat "we 
might be prepared to indicate such points to the Mayor and Aldermen when 
tliey should meet. Having accomplished this, we went to Lovcjoy's, where 
we found the Mayor and three or four Aldermen. Mr. Jourdan stated briefly 
what had been done, and that he wished to meet the authorities. The necessity 
for usino- powder was admitted by all. The Mayor asked who understood bow 
to apply it. Mr. Hamilton offered his services to apply and fire the powder, 
but if the Mayor wished the services of a gentleman who from his military 
education was acquainted with the subject, he could not find a more competent 
man than General Swift. It was then asked, where powder could be obtained, 
and in reply it was stated that General Arcularius had sent two boxes with 
some loose powder and cartridges, which were on a cart at the corner of Wall 
and Nassau streets, and that more powder could be found at Alderman Green- 
wood's. The Mayor, and Aldermen Smith and Jourdan went with me to where 
the powder was ; but finding the quantity too small, we went to various grocery 
stores and got all we could, and sent it to where the cart was standing. I sug- 
gested that a written order should be sent by the Mayor to General Arcularius, 
directing him to bring powder from the Arsenal, five miles from the city, 
on the middle road. This was done. In the mean time, Alderman Smith and 
I procured an empty lime cask and threw the powder they had in it, which 
filled it about one-third. This powder, under the directions of the Mayor and 
General Swift, was conveyed to Garden Street and placed in the cellar of a four- 
story store, occupied by a Mr. Swan, as near the centre as could be found. A 
piece of calico was fastened to the upper rim of the cask, into which loose papers 
were placed, and we laid the calico on a board along the floor of the cellar to 
the stuff. A canister of powder reserved for that purpose was used in laying a 
train from the cask, along the calico to the cellar door, where loose paper was 
laid. AVhen this was done, all present retired to near Broad Street, except Gen- 
eral Swift and myself, when I said, " Who is to fire this ? — General, as I got the 
powder, I must have the first shot." The General, laughing, said, " Well, Ham- 
ilton, you shall," and retired. I then set fire to the paper with a lighted candle, 
and retired to where the crowd stood. The train took fire, and went off without 
if^niting the powder in the cask. I then went up the street opposite the store, 
found the calico was burning, and retired. In a few moments the blast was 
made. It threw down the front of the building, a part of the adjoining one — 
threw off the roof, but did not destroy all the floors. The fire carried up by the 
floors endangered the next building, and thus rendered it necessary to blow up 
that building also. 

At about this time (5 o'clock in the morning), Mr. Charles King, who had 
performed a most important and arduous service, by going during a most ter- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 287 

rible night to the Navy Yard in an open boat (the wind blew a hurricane and 
the cold was intense beyond example), returned with Captain Mix, Lieutenant 
Nicholson, and a gang of sailors, with six barrels of powder. It was then deter- 
mined to apply a barrel to the store on Garden street adjacent to that which had 
been fired ineffectually before. This was done by Lieut. Nicholson. Upon re- 
connoitering, we determined to blow up a store on the corner of an alley on 

street, the fire having advanced toward Broad street on the opposite 

side of street, and beyond where the store was which was to be blown 

up. It was consequently so hot, and there were so many sparks and fire-brands 
flying about, as to render the approach to the store extremely hazardous. This 
was, however, unheeded by the gallant tars, who carried the barrel of powder 
on their shoulders, passed over the gangway, and placed the barrel in the cellar. 
A train was laid to the mouth of the gangway, where straw was placed, the per- 
sons present having retired. Captain Mix fired the shot. The two previous 
experiments were entirely successful in arresting the progress of the devouring 
element to the westward. It was decided to blow up a wooden building at the 
corner of Coenties alley and Slip, about twelve feet wide, westerly from which 
there was a range of valuable stores filled with merchandise. A barrel of pow- 
der (two hundred pounds), was carried to that store. The owner of the crock- 
ery in the store came into the cellar when Swift and I were preparing the work 
of destruction, and asked permission to take out his goods ; the General replied 
pron ptly and caustically, " Yes, if you can do it in fifteen minutes." The train 
was laid with muslin picked up in the street; the General saying, " It is your 
turn," left the cellar with all others except myself and one of the sailors, who 
had assisted to bring in the powder. While I was arranging the train, the 
sailor, with a lighted candle in his left hand, was, with a hammer, endeavoring 
to knock in the head of the barrel of powder. Seeing that this would be in- 
evitable destruction, I took him by the arm in which he held the light, drew him 
over before he struck a second blow, and drove him out of the cellar. Putting 
the candle far out of reach of the powder and the dust which flew up when the 
head was driven in, I opened the barrel ; fastened near the end of its mouth the 
muslin with my knife, allowing the end to rest on the powder ; I laid a stream 
of powder, about fifteen feet, to the foot of the stairs in the cellar, and then laid 
the muslin and straw to the top of the stairs and on the sidewalk. The night 
was clear, excessively cold, a very high wind, a bright moonlight. The people, 
in great numbers, were standing at the head of the Slip near the water, to watih 
the effect of the blast. After setting fire. to the mass of combustibles, I walked 
deliberately toward the spectators, they crying out, " 11 un ! run ! why don't you 
run ?" This was a little affectation of fearlessness on my part ; well knowing 
that it could not burn down to the train of powder before I could get away. 
The powder ignited and blew the whole house and all its contents into atoms, 
making thus a vacant space of many feet from the next burning house and the 
store, and that block was thus saved. The cold was so excessive that the en- 



28S REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

gines and tlie ladders were frozen ; the firemen were exhausted and demoralized ; 
there was much plundering; merchandise of all kinds was thrown into the 
street ; the only effort, in many cases, by the owners and their friends was to 
get out their books. After the blast, there appeared on the ground one engine 
which was brought from Brooklyn. It was believed that some cotton in the 
store next westerly from where the last blast was made, was on fire, I urged 
the firemen to carry their leader into the store to put out the cotton. They were 
deterred from doing so under a belief that this store was to be blown up. I 
got on the stoop, addressed them, told thenj there was no more powder to be 
used, and that I would go up into the store with them. They then went for- 
ward. The cotton was found to be in some small degree on fire. It was put 
out, and the fire was arrested. 

My work was done. My cloak was stiff with frozen water. I was so worn 
down by the excitement that when I got to my parlor I fainted. The scene of 
desolation and demoralization was most distressing. A suit was brought in 
New York, and another in New Jersey, against the Mayor; I was called and 
examined as a witness in both, 

FIRST VOYAGE TO EUROPE— 1830, 

Having informed my friend, President Jackson, of my proposed visit to 
Europe, he addressed to me the following, intending that it should be a general 
passport to the good offices of all our official representatives in Europe. I did 
not use it, because I did not need their services. My father's name alone was 
my best passport to society, particularly in England, as the following narrative 
will prove : 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, October 11, 1836. 

"My Dear Sir: In the prosecution of the inquh-ies you propose to institute 
during your absence from the United States, with a view to introducing into our 
country valuable animals and plants, and information calculated to promote its agri- 
cultural improvement, my best wishes attend you ; and I take pleasure in furnishing 
you with this written expression of them, as well as of the great satisfaction it 
would aflbrd me to learn that your success had been promoted by facilities atiorded 
by our fellow-citizens representing the country abroad in a public capacity, which 
they will doubtless take pleasure to extending to you in a matter so interesting. 
" I remain, with friendly regard, your obedient servant," 

On the 10th day of October, I sailed for England in the Quebec, a sailing 
vessel of 600 tons. Governor Cass, with his family, went out in the same ship 
as Minister to France, where he resided some years, 

I took a letter from my dear mother to Prince Talleyrand, which was left 
at his hotel in Paris, he being absent. He afterward acknowledged its 
receipt by a note sent through my banker at Florence. During my short 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 289 

sojourn at Paris, Louis Philippe gave me a private audience, when I was pre- 
sented to his Avife and children, and to his sister, Madame Adelaide. The 
King received me very courteously and unceremoniously ; inquired about the 
health of my mother ; expressed his admiration of my father, and referred to 
his visits at my father's house in New York. I also became acquainted with 
the Premier, and was invited by him to an evening reception, where I had the 
good fortune to meet some of the most distinguished people. I was invited 
about the same time to take tea with the Duchess do Broglie (who was the dau<rh- 
ter of Madame de Stael) ; there I was introduced to Mons. Guizot, who continues 
to live and to exert a salutary inHucnce upon public opinion. Through the good* 
offices of Monsieur de Neuville, who had lived several years in the city of New 
York, and also in Washington, as Minister Plenipotentiary from France, which 
office he received shortly after the Bourbons were restored, I had an oppor- 
tunity to see several members of the amien regime of the Faubourg St. Germain. 

Letter from his Mother to James A. Hamilto;^. 

" New York, October 24, 1836. 

"My Beloved Sox: How devotedly have I in my mirnVs eye followed the move- 
ments of the ship that contained the favorite son of my beloved departed husband. 
How often must your miud have been raised to that Great Disposer of the universe 
who was guarding you on your perilous voyage." (I was in a sail ship, as this was 
before steamships crossed the ocean.) " Could my wishes liave wafted you more 
swiftly and smoothly than a bird, your passage would soon have terminated. I have 
greatly feared your delicate lungs would suffer from sea-sickness. Let me hear par- 
ticularly from you, and all about my daughter and her children. 

" I hope you will have time to examine the police of London. Something may 
be observed beneficial to this city. My grand-daughters frequently visit me (the 
mother of their departed father claims a closer union) ; they are both in good health. 
Fanny has become a teacher in Dr. Hawks' Sunday-school. This is very gratifying 
to Mrs. Sullivan. May the Almighty always guard and b^ess you, prays 

" Your affectionate Mother, 

" Elizabeth Hamilton." 

From Paris we went our way through France by post. This was before 
the period of railroads in France. 

By my note-book we arrived at Lyons, December 11, 1836. 

The streets of the city are filthy, narrow, and generally without sidewalks. 
There are one hundred thousand inhabitants — a place of much wealth, from its 
manufactures of silks, &c. The people have the busy, bustling air which 
characterizes a commercial people. There are many soldiers and priests (the 
minions of power and its supporters) and idlers. I may state here the remark- 
able fact that, as a consequence of the Revolution of 1798, the lands of France 
are so divided as that there are ten millions of people who own such small 
parcels that they a pay a tax of only five francs (about one dollar) a year. 
19 



290 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

At riorencG, I had the good fortune to meet with the Duke de Denon, the 
uephew of Priuce Talleyraad. lie was living there " en gargon." He invited 
lue to breakfast and dinner, and gave me much information in regard to his 
uncle and the distinguished persons I here met with. He told me that King 
Jerome, who was living there, hearing my name, had talked with him about 
my father and the courtesies he had received at his country-house, and directed 
the Duke to say, that if I desired to be presented, he would be pleased to receive 
me. 

I assented, and the day of presentation was fixed. The Duke informed 
me that although Jerome was living upon the generosity of others, say 
$10,000 per year, he expected the same observances on these occasions as were 
due to a reigning monarch. I acquiesced, and dressing myself in full costume, 
went with the Duke. At the door, we were announced, " The Duke Denon 
and Colonel Hamilton." This was repeated on the stairs, and at the door of the 
audience chamber. Denon went first, bowing three times, as is proper — once, 
on entering, once, half-way up, and again in the presence of Majesty. He in- 
troduced me. The King welcomed me most cordially, and, contrary- to all 
etiquette, put out his hand to shake mine. He then talked of the dinner at 
my father's house, of which I have given an account in a previous part of this 
work, asked me about my mother, and took occasion to say, " If he could do 
any thing to promote the pleasure of my visit at Florence, he would gladly do 
so." I bowed my thanks. Another person being announced, I retired (keeping 
my face to Majesty). Near the fire-place I found a young \adj siitii>(/ ; she 
bowed to me and pointed to a chair. I civilly declined to take it, saying, " Not in 
the presence of Majesty." She replied ; " Oh ! nonsense, do be seated ! " This 
lady was she who was once engaged to marry the present Emperor, who after- 
ward married the wealthy Russian Prince Demidoff. She is now, I believe, 
known as Princess Mathilde at Napoleon's Court. 

The Duke Denon, speaking of his uncle. Prince TaUeyrand, told me 
that he had received a letter informing him that the son of General Hamilton 
would probably be in Florence in the course of the winter, and intimating that 
it would give his uncle pleasure if he would show me every attention in his 
power. Duke Denon was a finished gentleman, and had been a good soldier. 
My banker in Florence sent me a note addressed to me by Prince Talleyrand, 
expressing his regret that he did not see me in Paris, that he had many recol- 
lections of an interesting character which he would gladly refer to when we 
should meet. 

The Grand Duke of Tuscany is a man of good intentions. He is not 
talented. His efforts to improve the condition of his people are most com- 
mendable. Amid the profligacy of this age in Italy, his domestic life is most 
exemplary ; and in the measures he has taken for improvement — for instance, 
abolishiog imprisonment for debt and the death punishment — he has certainly 
evinced much discernment and decision : better qualities for an absolute 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 291 

monarch than genius. He is much beloved. The enjoyment of absolute 
power is not only dangerous to others, but particularly so to ourselves. The 
people of Tuscany, generally speaking, hold their lands in fee. They are bet- 
ter satisfied than those of the other Italian States; they are well governed 
although grievously taxed. The tax on incomes from lands and houses amounts 
to 25 per cent. Oil, wine, silk, and straw hats are the products of industry. 

Of course, the objects of art were deeply interesting to us. I forbear say- 
ing more on the subject than that, to my very great surprise, I found the Italian 
men and women did not seem to have much knowledge of, or enthusiasm in rela- 
tion to, their exquisite works of art. I was informed that the young ladies of 
high rank were educated in convents, and usually secluded from society until a 
marriage was arranged for them ; some having reference entirely to property 
and rank ; that they were then brought out, carried about to public places, and 
married. This arrangement of marriage for convenience tended to promote 
that shocking practice of " cavalier serviente^'' — an association which the hus- 
band had probably formed before he was married, but which the lady was sedu- 
lously prevented from forming until after the first child was born. I was told 
by Mr. T. (an American gentleman), that the Grand Duke, in conversing with 
him in relation to his subjects, complained of this practice as the great obstacle 
to his efforts to raise up the character of his people. Their lives were essen- 
tially spent in frivolities and dissipation. I saw nothing of this, and here 
let me add in relation to the family to which I was introduced, that they 
were all people having a just sense of duty to their class and country; it 
was understood that if Napoleon the First had been successful in the war 
Avith Russia in wresting Poland, that he proposed to make a member of this 
family Kiug of Poland. I believe one of the members of this family has re- 
cently been in the diplomatic service of his country. 

Januartj 15, 1837. — The Countess Coventry having heard that I was in 
Rome, I had the good fortune to make her acquaintance and to be invited fre- 
quently to dine at her rooms in the Bai'berlni Palace, where I met distinguished 
Englishmen and other strangers. The last time I dined with her ladyship I 
met Mr. Austin, who was understood to hold an unofiicial appointment from 
Great Britain. (As the Sovereigns of that country are excommunicated, there is 
no ofiiclal intercourse.) This gentleman is an attache of the Charge at Florence. 
I also met Lord Stewart De Rothsay, a peer of the realm — a very clever 
man, a most thorough Tory. This gentleman was afterward at St. Peters- 
burgh, where our acquaintance was resumed, very much to my advantage. 

February Wtli. — Visited the Vatican Library, by the Influence of my friend 
Father Esmond, to see the old manuscripts. There I met with Mczzofanti, the 
librarian, an Italian and a priest — the greatest polyglot in the world. He says 
he ."^peaks thirty-three or thirty-four different languages ; he is very affable. 
He showed me a copy of Cicero de Respublica, recently discovered, which he 
says was written in the fourth century. The book was of parchment. The 



292 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ori"'mal letters were quite large, viz., N E E-. An attempt bad been made to 
wasb tbcm out, in order to use tbe sbeets, on wbicb was written a commentary 
on tbe Psalms in a mucb finer and neater band. We were also sbown a copy 
of Virgil, of tbe fiftb century. A part of tbe Creed interlined witb minute 
representations of tbe scenes described. Tbese pictures were well executed, 
and it is believed tbat tbe work owes its present existence to tbat circumstance. 
We saw a copy, in Greek, of a part of tbe New Testament, written in golden 
cbaracters, a beautiful work, said to bave been done in tbe eleventb century. 
Tbe oldest Bible tbcy bave in tbe library does not go furtber back tban to tbe 
tcntb century. "We also saw tbe " Defence of Catbolicism," written by 
Henry VIII., of England, in consequence of wbicb be was called, and so are 
bis successors on tbe tbrone, " Defenders of the Faith.'''' And tben two letters 
written to Anne Boleyn, wben sbe was in Paris. Tbcy arc quite absurd love- 
letters in French. Mezzofanti said, " Wben Henry got into tbe bands of a 
woman, be was lost." 

February 11th. — Lady Coventry took me to see a group in marble, wbicb 
sbe represented as an antique, and urged me to parcbase it, as better wortb taking 
borne tban any tbing of tbe kind I could get in Rome. I did so, paying for tbe 
group of tbree figures, Mars, Venus, and Cupid, two bundred and twenty 
piastres. 

Note Book. — Tbe people of Rome, botb men and women, are bandsome. 
Tbe former are robust, tbe latter ratber small ; brigbt, dark eyes ; tbe outline 
of tbe female face approacbing to beautiful; a prominent tapering Roman nose. 
Tbe expression is full of intelligence and vivacity, voice clear, talk loud; tbeir 
manners are naturally easy and graceful. Tbe mode in wbicb all classes of 
men wear tbe cloak tbrown over one sboulder is graceful and sometimes majes- 
tic. Tbe infants are bound up after tbe manner of our Indians, but not as are 
tbose of tbe latter — on a board. Tbey migbt better be so ; because wbile by tbe 
latter mode tbey can be carried or laid down more safely and conveniently, tbeir 
limbs would not be so cramped as tbey are now. I am told tbey are tbus bound 
up in tbe morning, and so continue during tbe day maVjre, all accidents. I am 
not informed wbetber tbeir bcaltb is improved by this management, but presume 
it must be, or it would not be continued. 

March 23(/. Received letters, one a note from Prince de Talleyrand, inclos- 
ing a letter of introduction to His Excellency, Marquis Latour Maubourg, Am- 
bassador, and anotbcr from tbe Pope's Nuncio at Paris, to His Excellency 
Baron Conte Acton, &c., &c. 

Tbe following case of Vallatte is interesting. Tbe pictures of tbe * * * * 
family being oftei'cd for sale, tbeir value was assessed and afiixed to eacb by 
the owner. Tbe picture in question was assessed at sixteen dollars. Tbe gal- 
lery was tben opened for tbe sale of tbe pictures at tbe appraised prices, and all 
wbo Avisbed to do so, took tbem at tbe appraisement, or as mucb less as tbey 
could get tbem for. Vallatte, an Italian artist, purchased a lot including one 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 293 

picture, wliieli, after having had it nearly a year in his possession on sale, he dis- 
covered had been painted upon another picture. He put it into the hands of a 
man skilled in the art of removing the outer coat of paint, and this being done 
the first picture was believed to be one of the Madonnas of Corrcfrtrio, and of 
course, of great value. As such, it was exhibited by its owner, and offered for 
sale. The original owner ****** hearing this, sent an agent to examine 
the picture, and take such note of it that he might thereafter identify it. This 
was done without the knowledge of Vallatte, and the original owner insisted 
that the picture should be returned to him, on the ground that the appraiser 
had estimated it as a copy, and that Vallatte, having purchased it at an inade- 
quate price, could not hold it. Vallatte knowing how little chance he had of 
justice before the tribunals of Rome, in a contest with a powerful Prince, became 
alarmed, and when called upon to deliver up the picture, said he had sent it to 
England. There is an ancient and obsolete law of the Roman See, which de- 
clares that no picture shall be taken out of Rome without the permission of the 
Government, and that, if it is proposed to be sold to that end, the Government 
may purchase it at the agreed price, or, if it is offered to be removed, the Gov- 
ernment may take it upon appraisement. As soon as Vallatte said (which was 
not true) that he had sent the picture away, the Government commenced pro- 
ceedings against him under this law, examined witnesses to ascertain the charac- 
ter of the picture and to find out whether it was, or was not, in Rome ; and it 
was thus ascertained to have been in the city long after it was said to have been 
removed. The Vicar-General then sent for Vallatte, and told him he was about 
to put some questions to him under oath, and that he must answer them truly 
under pain of the law. Vallatte then declared that he had not removed the 
picture, and his reason for having given that false statement. He was then re- 
quired to deliver the picture to the officer of the Government, which he refused 
to do; and he was immediately sent to prison, where he remained six hours, and 
then, in order to obtain his liberty, sent a note to his brother directing him to 
deliver the picture to the officers of the Government. He was released from 
prison, but the picture is retained by the Government, notwithstanding all his 
remonstrances and those of his friends. My authority is Freeborn Jones, an 
English banker. This is the justice of the Papal States. 

Gambling in Rome is practiced by the people in the open streets continually, 
and by the Government, by causing a lottery to be drawn every week. The 
price of tickets is so low as to put them Avithin the reach of the people of the 
lowest condition. The prizes are, of course, small. The revenue to the Govern- 
ment is not inconsiderable. 

During the reign of the last Pope (1837), the corruption iu all departments 
of the Government was so open and shameless, as to render it necessary on his 
demise, in order to remove popular resentment, to choose as his successor a car- 
dinal of popular manners and character. Pio Nono was eminently of that char- 
acter. It was understood that the police connived at the use of fake weights 



294 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

and measures by the small traders, aud that they participated in the profits of 
this trade. 

I was taken by Father Esmond to the college of the Jesuits, and shown as 
much there as was permitted. It was well understood that the students, if 
very proficient, are destined for the Church and become members of the Society. 
I saw the representatives of every race on earth ; aud among others, an African. 
The purpose of the Society was, to secure members of the Society who could 
speak the tongue of every nation and race, and thus that the influence of this 
great established Church should be extended throughout the habitable world. 
I w^as surprised to learn the extended ramifications of this Society ; and par- 
ticularly the minute, accurate (as it was represented to me to be), and extended 
information, particularly in regard to individuals of any note, iu all countries 
and climes; it being well understood that every Jesuit who is sent abroad (aud 
they are sent throughout the world), is to make as frequent returns as his 
means of access will admit, of all persons of note, and of all events and pur- 
poses of the individuals and Governments as can be obtained ; and that thus 
the archives of the College are filled with most curious, as well as accurate 
and extensive information. It was stated to me that a male of an English 
noble family, very remote from the succession, left his country in his youth 
under adverse circumstances, for parts unknown. That after some years this 
person, by numerous deaths in the family, became the heir to the title and 
estate. The family sought by all the usual means through the English Govern- 
ment ofi&cials to ascertain the whereabouts of the man or his death, but in vain. 
It was then proposed that application should be made to this College. This 
was done, and such information as the family possessed iu regard to the means, 
appearance, habits, and every thing of a personal character which was known, 
together with his age aud the time of his departure from London, was furnished 
to the College. Of course, a large reward was to meet the success of the in- 
quiry, and thus compensate the labor of searching the archives; which was 
attended with such apparent success as to induce the General of the Order to 
require his subordinates to trace him from the place last seen or heard of. At 
leuo-th the lost one was found, and the honor of the Noble houGC sustained. I 
was induced to believe that, for the ends proposed by the Society, there never 
was a more intelligent plan formed than this Order. There is great intelli- 
gence, with adequate decision at the head — industry, aud most extraordinary 
acuteness aud skill in the subordinate members. I also learned in this and a 
subsequent visit to the Holy City, in 184.8, during the apprehended revolution, 
that this Order was more feared and hated than any other in the Church ; 
that as the Vicar-General had unlimited power of restraint and discipline, 
the system was invested with power almost equal to the odious Inquisition. 
During my association with my excellent friend. Father Esmond, wandering 
about the city in pursuit of objects of art or personal interest, wc approached 
the house iu which my party lived. I took advantage of this to say to the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 295 

holy Father, that I lived iu that house ; that it would afford mc much pleasure 
to introduce him to my family, and to that end I begged that he would ^o and 
dine with me. He promptly replied that it would give him great pleasure to 
do so. We stopped, and he, looking about, said, " Colonel, do you see that 
man?" pointing to a person in the garb of his Order. "I cannot go, unless 
he is invited and will go with us." I replied, " I will invite him with pleasure." 
He said, " Stay; you cannot speak his language, nor he yours. I will take your 
message to him." He did so, retui-ned to me, and said, " He will not, and 
therefore I cannot go. Now, you will be surprised to learn that during all 
the days we have been together, that, or some other person of the Order, has 
been with us; that is to say, within sight of me." I expressed my surprise, and 
he said, "Yes, such is a part of our system." 

Note Book. — Left Rome for Naples. 

Naples. — The King, a tall, fat man. At his ball, to which we were invited, 
I found him of easy, unaffected manners. He went about conversing without 
restraint, selecting his partners for the dance. The Queen, who is quite young, 
danced frequently. She is a daughter of the Archduke Charles, of Austria. 
The King is said to be sordid. He collects about twenty-five millions of dollars 
per annum ; also three millions from salt, which is a monopoly, and very dear, 
say nine dollars for 195 pounds, and by retail six or seven cents per pound. It 
is obtained from Sicily, and from the Adriatic. No person is permitted to take 
water from the sea, lest by evaporation salt should be made. The Mediterranean 
is said to be much more salt than the Atlantic. Three millions are received fi-om 
tobacco, which is also a royal monopoly. Snow is a source of revenue. It is 
not permitted to be gathered up by the people when it falls. The government 
preserves it in caverns, and sells it. There is an impost on every thing whicli 
comes into the city. There is a large State Lottery, as in Ptome, and it is drawn 
every week. Any sum may be ventured, and the chances are ten to one against 
the ticket holder. The Neopolitans are great gamblers, and expert pickpockets. 
The Government is purely despotic. The will of the King is the law of the 
land. He, however, has a Council of Ministers whom he consults. Justice is 
openly sold. The criminal justice is administered secretly — the civil, openly. 
The obligations of oaths are totally disregarded. The lazziironi along the quays 
are disgusting objects; their rags and patches exceed anything else I have ever 
seen. The climate permits them to sleep out of doors. The army, including 
the National Guard, numbers thirty thousand, of which there arc six thousand 
Swiss, and they are the only troops that can be relied upon. The navy consists 
of one sixty-four and one seventy-four gun ship; the last is repairing. The 
public debt is equal to about sixty-four millions of dollars. The impost and 
some other revenues are furnished by being sold at auction to the highest bid- 
der. I saw in Naples the lowest order cf merchandise probably to be found in 
the world. Men and boys would pick up iu the streets the ends of scgars and 
other tobacco that had been thrown away — dry it, and then place it on the pave- 



296 UEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

luent, at corners, or near public places, and offer it for sale; and it is bought to 
be used in pipes. The Lunatic Asylum is a royal establishment founded by 
Madame Murat. It seems to be perfectly well arranged. The great object 
seemed to be to act upon the morals— to amuse and employ according to the 
bent of the patient. For the use of the lunatics there was a printing press, a bil- 
liard table, a piano, and other musical instruments; a music master whose duty 
it was to come every morning to teach such of the patients as would learn to 
play ; twelve masters to teach singing, together, and in good time. Of four 
thortsand patients received from the commencement, fifteen hundred have been 
cured, and about the same number have died. Some who had been fourteen 
years lunatics have been cured, and from that period down to sixteen days. The 
freater number of cases are the consequences of distress from want, but many are 
the result of religious frenzy. There were some from all classes in society, and 
from all nations. The women are more diflBcult to manage than the men. I 
saw one woman working at a tambour frame. She was handsome, and appeared 
to be intelligent. She was modest, very delicate, and well behaved ; and evi- 
dently, when we first entered the room, a melancholy expression passed over her 
face, with a slight indication of shame at being seen there. She sat almost mo- 
tionless at her work, without raising her eyes. Her hair, long and dark, was 
divided neatly in two parts from the top of her head to her forehead, plaited on 
each side and carried down behind her ears to her neck. She had evidently been 
a woman of great beauty and delicacy — was the widow of an ofiicer in the King's 
body-guard, and lost her reason from the moment of his death. The inmates 
are divided into two classes, those who pay, and those who are unable to do 
so. The former pay twelve ducats a mouth (equal to about nine and three 
eighths of a dollar). The manner of the directors, both male and female, 
was most admirable, as was that of the Inferior who walked around with us. 
He was kind, discreet, and adroit. This Asylum is at * * *', five miles from 
Naples. 

I transcribe from my note-book a description of the most disgusting 
burial-place in the world — a disgrace to a civilized people. It is a square 
of about four acres, inclosed by a high stone wall, built up and divided 
into vaults. Tiiese are four hundred in number, all of stone, each about 
twenty feet deep. Every vault has a trap-door of stone, about eight feet square, 
laid out in regular lines, which are raised by chains fastened to a portable lever, 
with hooks passed into staples afiixed to each door. These vaults are thus 
opened every day in succession, to receive the destitute dead, and those from 
the hospitals. The bodies are stripped of all covering as soon as they are 
carted within the enclosure. As soon as the burials of the twent3'-four hours 
are finished, the door is shut down, plastered around the edges, and so left for a 
year. The bodies are cast into the vault naked and promiscuously. These 
vaults have been used seventy-two years, and not more than twenty inches deep 
are covered by the bones. Two bodies had been just cast into one of the vaults 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 297 

when I came in, and the door was opened that I might look in ; these were naked 
and had fallen near each other, in a shapeless mass. The bones of those before 
buried were spread over the whole surface. There was a slight stench when the 
door was raised up. I was shocked, and turned away with disgust, 

Left Naples on the 25th April, took the route to Venice, Milan, down the 
Rhine, and embarked at Antwerp for London, where we arrived on the 24th 
July, 1837. 

London (for the first time.) — On our way up the Thames, we passed thirty 
vessels lying one behind the other waiting to get up to discharge their cargoes 
of coal. I learned that there were at this time more tons of coal consumed in 
this great city, to make gas, than there were raised in America. A large hulk 
was anchored in the stream below the city, with this inscription, " Uosintal for 
the Seamen of all Nations.'''' This was an emblem of such Christian civilization 
as rejoiced my heart. On my way through the city to my lodgings, I went to 
Guildhall where the election was held. The scene was animating. By the 
politeness of a policeman who was told I was an American, I was taken into 
the hustings. The voter passes in his name, being registered, and swears that 
he is the person named, and that he possesses the legal qualifications. There 
are several inspectors and registers, the agents of the candidates are present, 
the voter announces the names of the candidates for whom he votes, the agents 
thank him, he passes on and out. 

I left letters of introduction given to me by Louis McLane, late our 
Minister, to the Marcj[uis of Lansdowne, Lord Holland, Sir Robert Peel, and 
Lady Nesbit. The Marquis was very civil, and Lord Holland not only 
attentive, but very useful to me. By the way, these two houses were esteemed 
the most desirable in every point of view, and particularly from the intellectual 
characters of their guests. In my recollections of incidents of travels, I have 
avoided all reference to the works of art, and other interesting objects of attrac- 
tion with which my note-book is replete. 

I was invited to dine at Holland House, "to meet a few friends; " the 
guests were Lord Melbourne, Premier ; Palmerston, Foreign Afiairs ; the At- 
torney General, and one other member of the Government ; also Mr. Harris, the 
Librarian, who came from Scotland thirty years before, to arrange the Library, 
and never found his icay hack He was a very learned, intelligent, and excellent 
man, I had the pleasure to be seated at the right hand of my host. The 
arrangements of the table were most luxurious. The conversation at first was 
light and pleasant; Lady Holland, who was very intelligent and well informed, 
took part. Queen Victoria had recently come to the Throne, and in consequence 
of the dissolution of Parliament, which always occurs on the demise of a sover- 
eign, an election was going on for the New Parliament. The returns of the 
election were coming in, and after her Ladyship retired, the letters giving 
returns received by the different gentlemen, were referred to. The result, I 
may here state, was very close, not giving to the Whig Ministry more than 



298 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

about ciglitcen majority. lu tlie course of the conversation on the subject ot 
tbe election, I was asked by Lord Holland, if I had given any attention to the 
elections in the United States. I replied, J had ; I was then asked to relate 
the process, which I did. I gave a detailed account of the proceeding. Hap- 
pening to state that the respective parties canvassed every evening the votes of 
the day, to arrive at an approximation of the result, and ascertain the names 
of persons who had not voted, and were to be looked after (the elections at that 
time, in the State of New York continued three days), this statement 
awakened curiosity to know how those of each party could know the character 
of the votes by ballot which were cast. I gave the details, which I had fre- 
quently witnessed and participated in. Earnest inquiries were made as to the 
character of the ballots, and particularly whether the voter could not conceal 
his vote. The conversation on this subject suggested the opinion that these 
gentlemen might wish that by changing the mode of voting, the voter might be 
exempted from certain influences to which he was extensively subjected in Eng- 
land. I had learned from a member of the Cabinet that the aristocracy, the 
church, and the moneyed classes were generally opposed to the Whigs. Under 
this impression, I ventured to express the opinion, that by the Constitution of 
Great Britain it was well understood that in the House of Commons property 
as well as persons were to be represented. I saw that the suggestion as to the 
Constitution of Great Britain, by an American of no pretensions to position, 
excited much surprise. The librarian commenced a dissertatiDU upon the 
Constitution, beginning with the "VVitcnagemot. Lord Holland mildly said, 
" Mr. Harris, it is unnecessary to go through all that, Mr. Hamilton is right." 
My name was then first mentioned, and, shortly afterward, Lord Melbourne, 
bowing to me said, " Sir, I have heard the opinion of a gentleman of your 
name in the United States upon the government of England." Lord Holland 
interposed by saying, " the father of this gentleman." Lord Melbourne — " I 
am gratified to know the son of that distinguished American, I will continue. 
He said the Government of Great Britain was ' the happiest device of human 
ingenuity.' " 

Lord Holland remarked, " as to the suffrage, we hold that the electors vote 
for themselves, and as trustees for those who cannot vote." I remarked, " With 
your recognized usage, if the ministry cannot secure a majority of the re- 
presentatives upon what is known to be a ministerial measure, they are bound 
to resign." Lord Holland, — " "W^c consider that as a part of the law of our gov- 
ernment." I said, " Organize your House of Commons so that it shall be the 
representative of the people, and it would give such an effect to their power as 
to make it a completely popular government. Under our system, and during the 
Presidency of General Jackson, his partisans were in a minority of both the 
Senate and House of Representatives for a long time, but his course of policy 
was not changed." At the close of this conversation, the Attorney General, who 
sat next to me, very courteously said, '• Mr, Hamilton, you ought to go to Scot- 



E-EMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 299 

land." "I intend to do so." " Then let me liave your address, tliat I may give 
3'ou letters to my friends in Scotland." I was afterward invited to a breakfast 
at Holland House to meet Sergeant Talfourd. On this occasion, Holland asked 
me to remain after his friends had left. I did so. He took me into his office, 
and showed me the manuscript letters of George III. to Lord North, in- 
sisting upon the continuance of our war. He said, " I show you these letters to 
remove from North the opinion generally entertained in your country, that 
the war of the Revolution was continued by his obstinacy." * 

It was my good fortune to meet at Holland House Samuel Ptogers, the poet. 
On one occasion, Holland said to me, " Dine with me on such a day; you will 
then have an opportunity to meet Prince * * * * * *^ the Queen's relative." 
I did so. The dinner was a very large one, of very distinguished persons, and 
I had the honor to hand to dinner Miss Fox, an aged lady, the sister of the 
illustrious Charles Fox. 

The evening receptions at Holland House were very interesting. At one, I 
met the Duke of Sutherland and his Duchess, and this incident occurred. Lord 
Holland was so infirm as to be confined to his chair. While I was conversing 
with him, he called the Dake, presented me to him, and then said, " Your Grace 
can render a service to Mr. Hamilton, by giving him a letter to some person in 
Edinburgh, who will assist him in obtaining a good gardener to take to Amer- 
ica." His Grace readily assented, and his Lordship informed him where he 
would find pen, ink, and paper. The letter was written, and addressed to Mr. 
Low, who rendered me a great service in that way. Lord Holland gave me let- 
ters to his friends in the country, the Earl of Leicester, Lord Panmurc, and 
the Earl of Lauderdale. At my last interview before I travelled, he said, " Mr. 
Hamilton, you appear to be well informed as to the industry of your own people 
— I wish you would go into the fields, market-towns, workshops, and other 
places where you can see the English laboring classes, and let me know on your 
return the result of your observations." I assented, and did so. I found in the 
market-places and the fields a race of uncommonly well-developed, tall, and 
strong men, who moved and worked slowly. They seemed to me to want the 
knack, skill, and rapidity of movement in their work to be found among the 
American farmers. I did not suppose his Lordship would remember his request, 
but to my suprise and regret, when I called upon him on my return, he 
put the inquiry to me, which I answered hesitatingly, but fairly. He was 
evidently a little disappointed. 

At Lynn, I mailed my letter to the Earl of Leicester, the Hon. Mr. Coke 
of Holkham (the stage which took me to Holkham conveyed to him his patent 
of nobility as Earl of Leicester.) This visit was of a most interesting charac- 
ter. The great commoner of England had been an earnest advocate for the 
recognition of our independence, and as such, in the House of Commons where 
he represented Norfolk for several years, he made the first movement to that 

* These letters were published after this iiiterriew. 



300 KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

end. In a speech lie made at the liustings where there was a likeness of George 
III., he apostrophised it as the likeness of a tyrant who had cost his coun- 
try more blood and treasure than all his predecessors. For some cause not 
explained to me, I learned that he had refused a patent of nobility from George 
IV., and William, under a determination not to receive that honor from a 
direct descendant of the tyrant. He was a finished gentleman of the old school, 
I suppose eighty years of age, and probably the most extensive and expert agri- 
culturalist in the kingdom. I think he had seven thousand acres inclosed, of 
which two thousand five hundred were planted by himself. His forest had so 
far advanced that he had a sale of ship timber just before I arrived, to the 
amount of £400. I drove with him through a field of turnips of one hundred 
and fifty acres. 

Lady Leicester was of a noble family, a second wife, about thirty-four years 
of age, very handsome, well mannered, having great good sense, and a sweet 
temper. She had four children— three boys and a girl — the youngest I believe 
about five. The present Lord Leicester, the eldest son, a well-behaved lad of 
about twelve, was called " Thomas Coke " the day before I arrived, and that 
day, " my Lord Coke." Lady Bury, a charming woman, the sister of Lady Lei- 
cester, was a guest. I learned from my host that Norfolk was considered the 
most barren country in England. King George said it was only fit to furnish 
metal for the roads of other parts of the kingdom, and that you might see two 
rabbits fighting for a leaf of clover. Before Mr. Coke went to Holkham to 
reside and to improve that vast estate, the land was rented at eighteen pence 
sterling an acre, and by the improved system of cultivation introduced by him 
it was, when I was there, leased for £3 per acre. The sheep-shearings of Hol- 
comb are celebrated (see Mr. Bush's account of the one he visited). As the 
guests of Mr. Coke, the Prince of Wales and Charles Fox were frequently with 
this very distinguished gentleman and agriculturalist. I passed three days 
most agreeably ; the Earl was very interesting and communicative. His private 
conversation cannot be repeated. His agricultural skill, and the management 
of his estate was a system so excellent, that there were three young men at that 
time living with his overseer and manager, attending upon him in order to learn 
the system, and thus fit themselves for a like employment. I saw these men 
going about with the manager, and their being there was so accounted for to 
me by the Earl. The first morning, while the Earl was talking with me, the 
ladies and children left the room. During the morning, walking with Lady 
Bury in the garden, she said, " Why did you not go to prayers with us this 
morning after breakfast ? " I answered, " Because, when you left the table, you 
did not invite me to go with you, and I did not know where you were going." 
She said, " Well, to-morrow morning go with us ; the Earl remained because he 
did not choose to leave you alone." In the course of the day, she said, " The 
chaplain is going away to-day with one of the boys, and ho may not be back to- 
morrow ; however, if you see us go, go with us." Of course, I assured her 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 301 

that I would attend ber with much pleasure. The next morniii"', as soon as 
breakfast was done, I rose with the others, and we walked out of the room 
through another, and into that ^^art of the chapel devoted to tbe chaplain and 
the family and guests. Below there were about sixty people — servants, labor- 
ers, and villagers. The chaplain being absent, Lady Leicester went into the 
desk, and read the service in a most excellent manner. At its close, all were 
going out ; I waited for ber Ladyship, and she took my arm. I expressed my 
gratification at what I had heard, and asked her whether this was an accustomed 
practice among persons of her rank. She said it was, and added, " My husband 
is going to give you letters to his friends, and you will find the same course at 
the houses of all these persons." 

From Holkham I returned to Lynn, and thence went to the house of Mr. 
Whitaker, where I arrived on the 20th August, 1837. This substantial farmer 
and extensive breeder of short-horn or Durham cattle, was the first man whose 
cattle of that -breed were brought to this country. On my arrival, I found Mr. 
Hare Powell, of Philadelphia, an acquaintance, who had first introduced these 
cattle to public notice ia the United States. Mr. "Whitaker was a very sub- 
stantial farmer — of good sense, well informed, and of frank manners. I passed 
a night and part of two days at his house. He instructed me in regard to the 
raising of cattle; and showed me the cattle in his neighborhood, where I pur- 
chased a bull and cow. He informed me that he lived in a parish which in- 
cluded a large number of operatives who worked in the neighboring woolen 
and cotton mills; that in order to get rid of taxation, landholders (noblemen) 
had destroyed the cottages on their estates in that neighborhood, and thus had 
driven that portion of the populace called cottiers into the towns, or else- 
where. Speaking of taxation, Mr. Whitaker informed me that he had been 
taxed to the extent of six shillings on the pound. With astonishment I asked 
how that was. He replied that when the work is dull at the mills, and the 
operatives could not earn suificient to support their families, they were thus 
driven to seek support under the poor-laws. I asked him to explain how that 
was done. He replied, "If a laboring man, haviog a family, could not earn ten 
shillings a week, he went to a justice of the peace and was examined under 
oath. The justice's duty then was to inquire into the facts; and if he found 
the statement correct, he made an order upon the poor-master to pay to the 
laborer the amount which, with his wages, would give him ton shillings a 
week." I remarked, " And thus the manufacturers were induced to reduce the 
wages of their operatives to the lowest possible sum, well knowing that the 
taxes upon the land-owners and others would pay, in part, for his work." It is 
well known that the poor-rates in Great Britain are excessive at this day; and 
that the laborers are sustained by these rates. The modus operandi is changed, 
but the fact and its efi"ects are the same. It tends to degrade the laboring classes, 
by impairing their independence and self-reliance, and by aiding the manufac- 
turer to make his fabrics at a less price, the raw material being as a general 
rule the one half, and the wages the other half of the value of the cloth, &c. 



302 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

I went to Edinburgh, where I had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of 
Sir AVilliam Hamilton— an eminent scholar— Lord Jeffries, and the Earl of 
Lauderdale, who were there to attend the election of the sixteen Scottish Peers to 
represent Scotland in the House of Lords of Great Britain. We went to Holy- 
rood House to witness this election. There were not present more than 
thirty of the Scottish Peers. There was no presiding officer. All was in- 
formal; their action seemed to be merely to vote. The Justices of Sessions, 
in scarlet robes, were present; and the Clerk of Sessions recorded the 
votes. He administered three oaths : 1st, Of allegiance to the Queen ; 2d, 
Renouncing all allegiance to the Pretender; 3d, Denouncing and abjuring 
the supremacy of the Pope. The Peers then present voted viva voce, and 
many of them " myself." This was disgusting. The Marquis of Tweeddale 
was the only person voted for, who did not vote for him.self. A gentle- 
man was there who claimed to have the right to vote as Lord Sterling. A 
protest was entered against his right to vote by the Duke of Buccleugh and Earl 
Lauderdale. The Earl of Man protested against the name of any Earl being 
called before his. Several voted by proxy; and some by lists, duly signed and 
witnessed, as the Act of Parliament requires. / 

My most interesting visit was to Grange, in Ayrshire, the residence of 
Alexander Hamilton, who was a cousin of my father. My grandfather, James 
Hamilton, had lived on this place— not in the house the Laird now occupied, but 
in a large stone house of which the ruins still remained, covered with ivy. I 
am the only descendant of my grandfather who ever visited the home of his 
ancestors, which he left probably more than one hundred years before to seek 
his fortune in the West Indies. The relative whose guest I was, then eighty 
years of age, was most hospitable. I had there probably as good an oppor- 
tunity to see the domestic life of a Scotch gentleman of the old school as in any 
other house in Scotland. The clergyman of the parish, and several other gen- 
tlemen, visited him while I was there. They addressed him as " Grange " and 
as " My Laird." He had living with him Captain Wriglit, and two young mai- 
den ladies — relations; also an ancient, very clever woman, a visitor. The Laird 
showed me the portraits of many departed members of the family, and among 
others, Sir John Pellick, of that ilk. His two waiters were dressed in small 
' clothes and plain livery. He said to me, '' Cousin, as you have been in Paris and 
London, I fear you will not find my cooking agreeable, for, to say the truth, my 
cook has lived with mo forty years." A very agreeable and singular reunion of 
the family was as follows : At about nine o'clock at night, all the party sat 
around the dining table ; the Laird had a plate of oatmeal for his supjjcr ; be- 
fore each gentleman. Captain Wright, my son, and myself, were placed a small 
carrat of whiskey, a goblet, wine glasses, sugar, and a silver ladle with ebony 
handle* warm water was in a tea urn within reach, and a plate with soft biscuit 
before each person. This reunion was for conversation. Each gentleman made 
bis whiskey toddy in his goblet, and with the ladle filled one or more of his 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 303 

glasses with the mixture he had prepared, and sent it to one of the hadies of his 
choice. This simple and agreeable tipple occupied the party for an hour or so 
in lively chat. The elder lady repeated to the Laird a gossiping story of an- 
other lady, to which he replied, " Ah ! she is a rinsing hussy." I write accord- 
ing to the sound. The whiskey was far better than any I had ever tasted, and 
wishing to send some of the same to America, I said, "Laird, this is the best 
whiskey I ever tasted. Where do you get it ? '' After a pause, he said, " Cou- 
sin, that is a question never asked nor answered in this part of Scotland." I 
felt that I had made a blunder. He said shortly afterward, " Cousin James, 
to-morrow morning before breakfast, if you go down to the entry you will prob- 
ably find on the marble table a few black bottles well corked, and if you go 
round the house you may encounter a naked-legged Highland man." The next 
morning I was up early, and found all things that had been intimated. It was 
obvious why such a question was never asked nor answered. At breakfast, I 
laughingly said, " Captain Wright, I found this morning a very civil Scot Avalk- 
ing round the house in a costume I had never seen before, except on the sta^e. 
I should like to have a cask of any liquor he might have, put into my coach." 
Wright replied, " I think I can manage it." The Laird said promptly, " Hout, 
man, they would find it and seize the carriage, cask and all. Cousin, stay here 
and enjoy the liquor, but do not attempt to carry any away in any other manner. 
Nothing can escape the vigilance of the excise man." The explanation was 
that the bottles were placed on the table, and the naked-legged fellow was found 
neir the house and received payment for his liquor. 

I said to the Laird, " Cousin, is not the Duke of Hamilton the chief or head 
of our clan ? " "I believe he is," he replied. " Do you not, as a liege, gasomc- 
times to pay your respects to your chief? " " Nay ! cousin, not I ; he is a damn"- 
Whig Radical." This good gentleman was so high a Tory that he would not 
allow a questionable newspaper to come into his house. 

I returned to Loudon, and to the society of my dear friend, Samuel Rogers. 
I had the pleasure, in the course of my five voyages to Europe, to visit London 
eight or ten times, and until the last two, in 18-17 and 181S, always breakfasted 
at his house, and enjoyed much of his society. His father, as he told mc, was 
accustomed to have family prayers. AVhen he heard of the Declaration of lu- 
depeudeucc, he added a prayer for the success of the Colonies, which he repeated 
every day until the peace. He believed the feelings which prompted this prayer 
were more common in England than is generally supposed. He said, when an 
armament was ordered to be taken from the tower to be sent to America, the 
officer in command resigned the place, rather than to be instrumental in subdu- 
ing the Colonies. 

The Recorder of London, when he heard of the outbreak of the rebellion, 
went to order a suit of mourning. His tailor expressed the hope that liis Lord- 
ship had not met with a serious loss. "Yes," was the answer, " my country's loss, 
by the rebellion, induced by injustice and tyranny." 



304 REMINISCENCES OE JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

At one of my early visits lie asked me for tbe names of all my children, 
and sent to each of them (five) a copy of his works, with their names written 
by himself. I refer to my social intercourse at this time in London to relate 
an incident of a peculiar character. I was invited to dine at Lansdowne House 
with a large part}'' of very distinguished people. The host asked me to take 
his daughter in to dinner. I did so, and devoted myself (as was my duty and 
pleasure) to her. She sat next to her mother. At length the nobleman who 
handed the mother in to dinner, and who was, of course, the person of highest 
rank at the table, invited the daughter to drink wine with him. I turned to 
my next neighbor, a large, burly-looking man, who directly turned to me and 
said, " An American, I perceive ? " " Yes, sir, I have the honor to be an 
American." " Well, sir, there is an account up there (pointing with his fore- 
finger) which your country will find it very diificult to settle." I understood 
his allusion, and being a little nettled, I retorted by saying, " Slavcnj ? If that 
account is properly entered, your country must settle it. You brought slavery 
upon us, and when, as Colonies, we asked to be permitted to abolish it, our 
parental government refused to allow us to do so. And let me add, too, in 
India the Eno;lish Judo;es have decided that the Hindoo law which sanctioned 
slavery was the law of the land, the law of a British territory. If I recollect 
aright, we are informed by the best authority that, in a great famine in British 
India, the women sold their children to obtain bread." My tone was earnest, 
and my manner so emphatic as to invite the attention of others. The company 
rose to retire, and the Marquis said, " Macaulay ! Colonel Hamilton ! what ! 
what ! " I thus learned who my antagonist was. He afterward met me at a 
breakfast, and when introduced to me, apologized. 

Our country was frequently attacked on account of slavery. I will only 
refer to one case at a subsequent visit to London. Lord Brougham was very 
attentive to me. He proposed to take and introduce me to Lord Lyndhurst, 
then Lord Chancellor, Lord Denman, Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Lord 
Jeffrey, and others, who were to meet me at dinner at his house. When we 
got to the Chief Justice's house, we were i-eceivcd in his library, and after a 
little chat Brougham said, " Col. Hamilton, I wish to talk with you frankly 
upon an interesting subject to your country if j^ou will give me leave." I said, 
" Certainly, my Lord, — .slavery, I suppose ? " Penman smiled. Brougham 
said, " Yes ! if you have no objection." I said, "Certainly not any ; and now- 
let me say, I consider it a great social and political evil and a crime ; here we 
all agree, and now the only point worth discussing is, how to get rid of it, and 
I now put the whole power of the Government into your hands, and call upon 
you to say how we can get rid of it." Dcnman said, " My Lord, nothing can 
be fairer than that. CoL Hamilton meets the subject in the handsomest man- 
ner." Brougham said, " I admit that, and now ask. Why does not your Gov- 
ernment pass a law abolishing slavery ? " I answered, •' Do you mean the 
State Governments ? " " Yes." I then pointed out to him that the men who 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 305 

controlled the States were slaveholders to a man, and that it could not be 
expected they would pass a law which would break up their whole social sys- 
tem, and consequently impoverish them and their children ; surely, that is 
more than can be expected from poor human nature. Besides, they have been 
accustomed to it for centuries, and do not think of it as you and I do." 
Brougham — " Well, then, why does not the Federal Government abolish it ? " 
Hamilton — " That Government has no power under the Constitution to do so." 
Brougham — " Then why does not Congr.^ss alter the Constitution?" Hamil- 
ton — '' The Congress derives all its power from the Constitution ; it has no 
power to enlarge or diminish the powers of the Constitution." I then went on 
to explain that the Constitution could only be altered with the consent of the 
State Legislatures. Brougham rose, took my hand, thanked me, and was about 
to take leave, when the Chief Justice interposed. " I wish to talk with Mr. 
Hamilton on another subject." He asked me if I was a lawyer. I said, " Yes." 
He then said, '• I have introduced a bill to authorize parties in suits to be ex- 
amined as witnesses. Allow me to give you a printed copy of that bill, and to 
hope that you will give me your opinion on the subject." I received it with 
thanks, brought the bill to New York, and put it into the hands of a learned 
lawyer. I believe this originated the Act passed by our State Legislature on 
that subject. Lord Benman was one of the most gentle, kind, and interesting 
men I ever saw. I visited him afterward, and had much conversation with 
him in relation to public aifairs. Lord Brougham presented me with a portion 
of his works. The dinner came off. To show how Brougham's very extensive 
knowledge was generally conceded : conversing with Earl Spencer, we differed 
as to a question of fact. Spencer said, '• I am not sure, but Brougham will 
tell us how the matter is." On one occasion, I met with Sir * * * -^^bo was 
Minister of Woods and Forests. Talking about the various languages in the 
kingdom, he said, " I was a candidate in Yorkshire, and at the hustings when 
I was to speak it was necessary for me to have a person near me to interpret 
the questions put to me in the language of the people." There are four differ- 
ent languages spoken in the kingdom, exclusive of that spoken in Yorkshire, 
and the people who speak English do not understand the language of the Irish, 
Scotch, or Welch. Our system of Common Schools would do away with this 
evil The Established Church has been the obstacle. She has insisted that 
she must control the education of the people. 

Lord Holland told me that he had seen much of Prince Talleyrand when he 
was Ambassador in England in 1832, Talking of the distiuguislied men he 
had met, he said the three most powerful intellects were Napoleon, Charles 
Fox, and Alexander Hamilton. His affection for my father was unbounded. 
Holland asked me if I had seen the Prince ; I told him of the unsuccessful 
efforts I had made to do so, and intimated that perhaps he did not care to see me. 
He replied, "You are mistaken; you owe] it to him as well as to yourself not 
20 



30G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

■to leave Europe without visiting liim. It will afford him very great pleasure 
to see jou." 

Froiu England I went to Paris. On my way to Dover, I rode with the 
driver as I most often did when I travelled in the stage coaches. Expressing 
my regret to the driver that I did not know where to purchase a good terrier to 
take home, he said there was no difficulty in getting them well-trained and 
cheap in London. I asked him what a dog and slut would cost. He replied, 
" the best, five pounds," (about $20). I then told him the ship n^'estmmster lay 
in St. Catharine's Dock, I was to sail in her for America on the 8th October, 
that my carriage and servant were on board of her, and if he would purchase 
for me two good terriers, and put them on board the ship, I would give him my 
name and the five pounds. He said he would do so. I gave him the money 
and my card, writing upon it the name of the vessel, &c. When we stopped to 
change horses and the driver, I said to him, " Now my good fellow, do your 
duty to me." He offered me his name, I told him that was useless, we should 
never meet again, and I left the whole matter to him. I had confidence in 
his honesty. When I went on board the vessel, at Portsmouth, on the 10th 
October, the dogs were there. The male, called Boxer, was a famous rat- 
catcher. I record this evidence of the integrity of John Bull with great 
pleasure. 

On my arrival in Paris, I addressed a note to Prince Talleyrand, then at 
Yalengay, proposing to visit him whenever it would be agreeable to him to re- 
ceive me. He promptly and courteously replied that it would give him pleasure 
to see me any day that I should come to Valencay. I replied that I would be 
there on a given day. My son and I left Paris, and posted to Valengay, 
travelling night and day, and arrived there at 11 A.M. of the day I had 
mentioned. We were received by a son of the Duke Denon, the Prince's 
grand nephew, who told us that his uncle had taken his accustomed ride ; that 
he dined at four o'clock, but wished me to be in the drawing-room half an hour 
before that time, that he might see me before his other guests arrived. This 
circumstance did not tend to remove my distrust of his sincerity. I amused 
myself; was dressed, and went to the drawing-room before the appointed time. 
One of the three or four rooms C7i suite had the pictures at large of Napoleon, 
Louis XYIIL, Charles X., and Louis Philippe. That of Napoleon was the 
orif^inal from which we see the Emperor in his full royal robes. On another 
part of the walls were the portraits of other kings and distinguished men which 
had been presented to this most distinguished statesman. Waiting in that 
room I heard the wagon in which he was rolled along coming over the marble 
pavement of the large hall. It stopped. I determined that it was becoming 
in me to walk out to meet him, and that in doing so I might take him un- 
awares. He was standing up leaning against the hand-rail of tTie stairs. I 
held out my hand, he took it in both of his, and said with evident feeling, 
^' Thank God, I see the son of my dearest friend ! " This was conclusive. I 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 307 

had done him injustice. Nothing could he more kind and affectionate than he 
was during the three or four days I remained with him. My son, who spoke 
French, was always seated at dinner at his left hand. I always lianded his 
niece, the Duchess Denon, in to dinner, and sat next to her. She spoke English 
with as much ease and as readily as I did. On one occasion, speaking of the 
Prince's Memoirs, she said, " You will be gratified to see them. He speaks of 
all the distinguished men he met with in your country, and particularly of 
your father." She told me there were three copies of them — she had one, 
Dehacour (whom I had known when Minister Extraordinary in this country) 
had one, and one other copy was in England. They were not to be published 
until thirty years after his death (which happened on the 17th day of May, 
1838). Tlie Prince when I visited him was, I believe, eighty years of age. 
He appeared to be toothless. The little hair he had was white ; he wore a 
large white neck-cloth which came on his chin. I endeavored to find in his face 
the index of his great mind, but in vain. His conversation was animated, and 
his temper kind. His coat was a frock. He was lame from his infancy, and 
so much so, that he walked with some difficulty, although he told me he had 
been a good horseman in his day, and followed the hounds with success. His 
lameness happened this wise. When an infant, he was sent to the family 
estate to be nursed — a very common practice among the nobility of that day. 
While in the hands of his foster mother, his ankle joint was injured. The 
nurse, fearing to inform his parents, attempted by bandages to make it right. 
When he was brought home, seeing that he was to be a cripple, his parents 
wei-e advised to destroy what had been done, and to set the joint again. This 
was tried without success, and left him in a worse plight than before. His con- 
versation was instructive and interesting. I can only repeat some of the 
incidents and anecdotes he related. I told his niece I wished his autograph ; 
she said he never wrote. " Every day a courier comes from Paris with letters 
to him from the King, or one to the Ministers. You will observe he retires 
for a short time every evening about eight o'clock, this is to receive and answer 
letters. He has two persons to whom he dictates — one letter to be sent, and 
the other to be retained." He told me, when he was engaged with public affairs 
he ate but one meal — his dinner — but before he went out in the morning at 
about ten o'clock, he drank a large cup of coffee and milk. This sustained 
him without at all influencing his mind, and thus it was that he was capable 
of getting through with his immense labor. His evenings were given to society. 
When he was about to sail for America he was detained some days at Dover, 
and being informed that there was an American gentleman who had rooms in 
the hotel, he said, " Being anxious to learn something more than I knew of the 
country to which I was going, I sent up my name, and was invited to come up. 
I found the gentleman W'ell informed of the localities and of the distinguished 
men of the country, of all of whom he spoke frankly and sincerely. After my 
visit was too much prolonged, I said, 'Sir, I sail in that ship to-morrow, for 



308 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

America, and will, with pleasure, take letters or any tiling else you please to send 
to 3'our friends in America.' He replied, ' I thank you, sir, but I am of all men 
the least likely to have a friend in America.' 1 went to the landlord, inquired 
the name of the gentleman I had seen — he was Benedict Arnold. An upbraid- 
ing conscience." One day he said to me, " I wish you to go to my office with 
me, to see a likeness I have of your father ; you remember him ? " " Certainly, 
well." He rose, and I offered him my arm. "I cannot be better supported." 
He took from the mantel a miniature on Sfevres china, and handed it to mc. I 
said it was younger than when I knew my father, but was very like. " If you 
will permit me, I will relate what occurred in connection with that miniature, 
and that scelerat Burr." I bowed assent. He continued: " When I was Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs, Burr came to Paris. I knew of his arrival. Pie ad- 
dressed a note to me expressing a wish to call upon rae. I had known him in 
New York; he had been Vice-President of the United States. As Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, it would not have been proper on my part to refuse to see so 
distinguished a man — the wretch — I hated him ; he had deprived me of my 
dearest friend. I sent one of my attaches, and instructed him to say to him : 
'The Minister of Foreign Affairs will receive Col. Burr at his hotel, at four 
o'clock to-morrow afternoon ; but he thinks it is due to Col. Burr to inform him 
that the miniature of General Hamilton always hangs over his mantel piece.' 
I did not see him. I knew where he was, and when he left the city. I ordered 
his letters to be delivered to him when he got five leagues from Paris. This is 
the miniature to which I referred. (It was afterwards sent to me, and I now 
have it.) The original, and a copy on Sevres china were sent to, and received 
by your good mother. I will state further, ' time soothes our sorrows.' My 
dear friend, your father, promised to send your eldest brother to pass two years 
in Paris with me, to finish his education, I had his rooms all prepared at my 
hotel, and the vessel by which I expected he would arrive brought the news of 
bis death. I dwell with much pleasure upon all these events; they bring back 
the recollections of my friend, your father, altogether the greatest intellect and 
best man of his country." At a large dinner, the Duke of Allara, aid-de- 
camp of Wellington in the Spanish War, and aftersvard Ambassador from 
Spain to London, being the distinguished guest who handed the Duchess in to 
dinner, at the close of the dinner, the Prince addressed him in these words : 
" Monsieur le Due, it is generally believed that the people of America are a 
mere matter-of-fact people. I relate what goes to show they are a people of 
sentiment. On the tower of Independence Hall in Chestnut street, Philadel- 
phia, there is a nightly watchman who calls the hour of the night, and the state 
of the weather. When Cornwallis and his army were taken, after the battle of 
Yorktown, in which the father of my friend, Mr. Hamilton, took a distinguished 
part, a messenger with the news, at two o'clock at night, galloping through 
Chestnut street, announced to the watchman that Cornwallis was taken with all 
his army. The watchman on the tower immediately cried out, " past two o'clock, 



HEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A, HAMILTON. 309 

Cornwallis is taken." And from that time, at the anniversary of that day and 
hour, up to this time, the watchman repeats tho cry, " Past two o'clock, Corn- 
wallis is taken." This was all given with emphasis, and the Prince then turned 
to me, and asked if that was not so. I had never heard of it, but not wishinfj 
to destroy so good a story, I replied, " it was a very interesting anecdote." We 
took leave of our friend and his family with regret, on our return to Paris. 

Left that city on our way to our home on the day of , 1837. The 

Duchess Deuon, on the 30th May, 1838, addressed a letter to me in French, of 
which the following is a translation : 

" Sir: Madame la Duchesse de Denon, now Madame la Duchesse de Talleyrand, 
would have been happy to have restored to \ou sooner tlie interesting papers which, 
you have been pleased to confide to her, but the b;Kl state of her health, and that 
of her daughter, has not left her leisure to do it, and she is at this time so much 
affected by the misfortune which has just befallen her that she has not strength to 
write herself. She therefore commissions me, sir, to tell you that she retains a 
very agreeable recollection of your visit to Valengay ; that she was not ign>rant, on 
the other hand, of the friendly relations which had existed between your fither and 
the Prince do Talleyrand, and that she remembers well that her uncle took pleasure 
in proving to you, sir, the esteem and consideration which he retained fir the 
memory of your illustrious father. It is from the influence of these feelings that 
Madame la Duchesse de Talleyrand begs you, sir, to accept a lock of the hair of the 
Prince^, cut after his death, and the glasses which ho sometimes used in the latter 
part of his life. She pleises herself with the reflection that these things will be 
received by you with pleasure, and preserved as a preciuus memento of the friendship 
of the Prince for your father. Accept, sir, the nssurance of the most distinguished 
consideration, with which I have the honor to be, 

" Your most humble and obedient servant, 

" W. COLMACKE, 

" Former Private Secretary to the Prince de Talleyrand." 

These precious mementoes were received. On the envelope of the lock of 
hair is written, " Chcveux de M. le Prince de Talleyrand, cotipe apres sa mort, 
17 Mai, 1838." To which letter I replied as follows : 

"New Yoke, October 1, 1838. 
''My Dear Madame la Duchesse de Talleyrand: I had the honor recently to 
receive, by the hands of one of the gentlemen attached to the American Legation at 
Paris, the very pleasing letter you caused to be addressed to me on the 30lh May 
last, inclosing the manuscripts I left with yon, and accompanied by a lock of the 
hair of the illustrious Prince de Talleyrand, and his glasses which he sometimes wore 
in the latter part i)f his life. I am indeed, dear Madame la Duchesse, most happy to 
accept these precious mementoes of the friendship of the Prince for my lather, 
which will be preserved, and as sueh transmitted to my latest posterity. My visit 
to Valengny is filled with recol'ections of the mo-t icteresting cliaracter, and not 
among the least of them results from the time, short as it was, which you were so 
good as to allow me to pass in conversation with you. IIow unceasing is my regret 



310 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

that it is not possible for mo to express to you ttie sympathy I feel for your misfor- 
tune, and that I have not the power in the slightest degree to alleviate it. Time and 
the consciousness that you had devoted your whole life to this great and good man 
will be your surest solace. Do me the favor, my dear friend, to make my best 
respects to your son and daughter, and to remember me, with the truest devuLiou, 

" Your friend and very obedient servant, 

" James A. Hamilton. 

" P. S. These articles were accompanied by a likeness of my father on Sevres 

china." 

James A. Hamilton to Governor Marcy. 

"DoBBS Ferry, January 7. 1838. 
' My Dear Sir : The extraordinary events on our frontier call upon every citi- 
zen to render such services as may be iu his power. Under this conviction of my 
duty, I beg leave to say that if 1 can be of use to the State, either in a civil or mili- 
tary capacity, I hope you will command me. 

"I served during a part of the late war, holding the rank of Major, and was 
afterward appointed by Mr. Van Buren one of his aids. I mention these not 
important circumstances merely to show that I am not Avholly ignorant of the duty 
of a soldier, should circumstances require the frontier to be defended. 

" Our course is a plain one : to repress aggression on the part of our own citizens, 
to fulfil our duty as neutrals by enforcing the laws against previous ofi'enders, 
but, above all, to be prepared to punish the recent outrage, if it is not satisfactorily 
atoned for, without delay. 

" I have the honor to be, with very great respect, 

" Your Excellency's obedient servant, &c." m 

President Jackson to James A. Hamilton. % 

'•'Hermitage, February 23, 1838. 
"My Dear Sir: I have just risen from a sick-bed to which I have been con- 
fined for some time, to acknowledge the receipt of your kind letter of the 3d instant. 
I sincerely congratulate you on your safe return to your country and friend:^ with 
your amiable family, all enjoying that greatest of blessings, good health, and having 
been pleased and gratified with your journey. I am happy you are well situated on 
your farm, the happiest situation in life, and engaged in its improvement. The barrel 
of wheat to which you allude came safe to hand, with your instructions accompany- 
ino- it, that it was to be sown in November. The water being too low when I was 
informed of the mistake in sending it to me, through a letter from Mr. Van Buren, 
there was nothing left for me but to try and preserve the seed by sowing it. I 
could get no one in the neighborhood but Mnjor A. J. Donelson who would join in 
sowing it. In last November we divided, and after preparing the ground, will sow 
it. The season was fine, but not more of that than one grain in twenty vegetated ; 
it has been now two weeks covered with snow, and if any of it matures, res^t assured 
I Avill send you a part. I regret I had not sowed some of it, but I fear it was in- 
jured, for some other foreign wheat sowed at the same time all came up well, and 
bids fair for abundant yield. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 311 

" I have no fear of a collision with England growing out of the Canada insurrec- 
tion; our Government will continue to maintain a strict neutrality, and Great 
Britain will punish those who have infringed upon our national honor and inde- 
pendence by the outrfigeous capture of the Caroline within our Territory. The north- 
eastern boundary, if not soon settled, may lead to evils that neither our Govern- 
ment or that of Great Britain can control. "With a tender of my kindest regards, 
" I remain very respectfully, your friend, &c, 

" P. S. The Col. Ward, lately murdered by his four nephews Jones, was the 
same gentleman that conducted you to my house." 

Washington^ TJiursday^ February 14, 1839. — Mr. and Mrs. Rives, 
Mr. Legare, Mrs. H.'s two daughters and I, went to the President's last 
evening to make a visit (by previous arrangement between Mr. Van Buren and 
myself). It was rather awkward but amusing to me that we should find 
there a large number of ladies and gentlemen of the Administration — Pontoise 
and the Vespucci, and among others particularly, Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Wall — 
as a day or two before there had been a sharp encounter between Mr. R. and 
Mr. W., and as Mareschall, who went with us, met Vespucci there, whom he had 
before refused to take in to dinner. While we were conversing together after- 
ward, Mr. Payne Todd, a blundering fellow, Mrs. Madison's son, came rush- 
ing into the room with a parcel of papers in his hands. The President im- 
mediately pressed up to, and stopped him in the midst of his speech , but not 
until he had mentioned the name of Hamilton in connection with the papers, 
which I heard distinctly. After a part of the company had retired, the Presi- 
dent told me that Mr. Todd had brought him a letter written by Mr. Madison 
to Mr. Coles, respecting the removal of the deposits and other matters. The 
truth was, he brought that and other papers; and the others, I believe, referred 
to my father. Perhaps they were his drafts of a constitution to be published 
at this juncture to affect the discussion upon Crittenden's bill to prevent office- 
holders from interfering in elections. 

Saturday Nighty February 16. — I am confirmed to-night in what I state in 
regard to the papers having referred to my father by Mr. Van Buren talking of 
the ludicrous contre-temps of Todd's visit, " Yes," said he, "and what made it more 
so was that Mr. Todd should just then have brought papers in which you were 
interested." 

Washington, February 26, 1839. — President Van Buren sent his 
Maine Message to Congress. It wants decision" and recommends Maine to ne- 
gotiate with New Brunswick, which is wholly wrong. It was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations after a few speeches in which a strong deter- 
mination was manifested to sustain the administration against the enemy should 
there be war. The course of Great Britain was denounced as unwise and un- 
just. Mr. Evans, of Maine, showed conclusively that Jackson had yielded 
most unnecessarily to Great Britain on this subject, and had produced this 
state of things. 



312 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

I dined with the Pi-esldcnt in company with General Scott, Mr. Kives, Mr, 
Legare, and will it be believed, Nicholas Biddle, who handed Mrs. H. to the 
table. I told the President that tliat arrangement was induced by the associa- 
tion of the name of Hamilton with the banks. He said, " No, 3Irs. H. is the 
most distinguished person here who has not official rank, and so she was given 
to Mr. Biddle, the most distinguished gentleman." This dinner went oiF very 
well, Biddle evidently feeling as the conqueror. He was facetious and in in- 
timate converse with the President. We afterward went to Mrs. Taylor's and 
returned home, wearied with the excitement of the day, at half-past 11 o'clock, 

James A. Hamilton to Peesident Van Buren. 

Nevis, September 25, 1839. 

" Sm : — I have the honor to send you a printed statement of the steam naval 
force of Great Britain which has been accumulated within the last very few years. 
In doing so, I have taken the liberty to {)resume it possible, owing to the multiplicity 
of your engagements, that these facts may have escaped your attention, and to ex- 
press the opinion that they call for your serious attention. I have long supposed 
that the successful navigation of the Atlantic by steamers had materinlly changed 
our position in regard to Europe in the event of war ; and among other things that 
our coast defences, however admirable, having been arranged in reference to winds 
and currents, might, in reference to this change in the mode of attack by steamers, be 
found to be entirely iueifectual. The point is at least deserving of great considera- 
tion. 

" I have the honor to be, with very great respect, your ob't ser't." 

James A. Hamilton to Daniel Webster. 

" New York, February 22, 1841. 

"Dear Sir: — ^I have the lionor to inclose a letter containing information which 
seems to me clearly to indicate that Great Britain is preparing to increase her Lake 
armaments. Whether this is a violation of the letter or spirit of her understanding 
with us or not, I cannot judge. It, however, proves that she considers the present con- 
dition of our differences as tending to the last resort of nations, to which Mr. Pickens' 
report s ) directly invites her. 

" I will embrace this opportunity to present to you one or two considerations in 
connection with this subject that may be of use, taking the chance of their having 
been anticipated by you. 

" It was generally understood when I was at "Washington thnt there was to be 
an extra session for the purpose of providing means to pay the debts, to repeal the 
Sub-Treasury law, &c., &c. It has occurred to me that there is a higher duty for 
such a call than any resulting from these objects to which the public mind has been 
directed, and one which in the future p irty conflicts will be incapable of being mis- 
represented by demagogues or by party slung to be used against us with as much 
effect as those can be. As to the debts to be provided for, they will take is-jue upon 
the fact, and refer to Mr. Van Buren's Message and his Secretary's report, and they 
will insist that Mr. Wise's Treasury Note Bill did all that was necessary, &c. But 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 313 

if to tliose motives for a call is added and made the most prominent, the necessity for 
arming the Nation, of defending her against hostile attack, tlie facts cannot be de- 
nied ; and party leaders will be afraid, reckless and bold as tliey are, to go to the 
people against so patriotic a cour^e. Tlie feelings of our countrymen on this suhject 
have been too clearly indicated to allow party politicians to mistake tliem, and very 
few can be found at this day who have tirmness, even when their duty may call upon 
them to do so, to resist war measures ; and let me add that to provide tlie means 
for defence you must adopt such measures — to obtain money by loan, by revenues, by 
increasing the duties, to improve the currency and to relieve the States — !is are called 
for by the actual condition of things ; and thus those measures will be adopted for a 
purpose which will more probably unite the Nation than any other. 

" One other consideration suggested by the subject, and I will no longer intrude 
upon you. 

"Two or three years ago, I sent to IMr. Van Buren a statement of the actual 
condition of ihe Steam Marine of Great Britain, and intimated to him as worthy of 
consideration that the employment of this new agent in this manner and to the 
extent of navigating the ocean had perhaps rendered it necessary to revise our 
system of coast defences, the positu)n of forts, and to defend our harbors which 
are to be attacked. Sail ships might be wholly useless where steam vessels are 
employed, from considerations that will be so obvious to you as to forbid their 
repetition. I will merely bring to your view a few facts. The Paissian Steam 
Frigate, building in this port, will carry a larger armament than any other in the 
world. She draws sixteen feet of water, and is supposed to be a match for any 120 
gun-ship drawing 27 to 30 feet water. The Cyclops, at the bombardment of Acre, 
carried from Constantinople 1,500 soldiers, and with her complement of men was 
supposed to have on board when she went to the attack at least 2,000 men. She 
and her consort did the decisive work in that attack. 

" Cunard's steamers, drawing twelve feet water, could be made to carry two large 
guns to 10-inch balls of 90 lbs. each, and four or six smaller ones. 

"Take the case of Newport harbor. The entrance upon which our fort is to 
bear is wide, deep, open, and accessible to vessels of all sizes, but there is another 
entrance around the island which carries throughout twelve feet water, although 
very narrow. Such vessels as Cunard's steamers can naviga'e it ; and thus command 
the towns of Newport and Providence with the adjoining country, regardless of our 
present fortresses. 

" With very great respect, etc," 



CHAPTEE IX. 

MARCH, 1841— JULY, 1844. 

Letter to Presiilent Harrison on our relations with Italy, &c. — The Constitutionality 
of a Unired States Bank— Opinion of "Wm. Beach Lawrence — Letter to Henry 
Clay— Second voyage to Europe — Visit to Paissia — Object of the journey— Dif- 
ficulties with the Eussian officials — An Appeal to the Emperoi- — Successful result 
— Notes on Russian manners and customs— A Ball at the palace — Journey to 
England — Interview with Lord Aberdeen — Letter from Mr. Seward — The Dorr 
Insurrection. 

James A. Hamilton to President Harrison. 

"DoBBS Feery p. 0., March 9, 1841. 

"S[e: As I was not so fortunate as to obtain a personal infe?rview with you 
when I called upon you, I take the liberty to bring the subjects I intended to 
touch upon to your notice in this form. 

" Having contributed in some small degree to the happy issue of our late contest, 
I feel that I owe it as well to myself as to the country to sustain your administra- 
tion by all means in my power, so long as it shall be governed by the great principles 
for which we contended. 

"During my connection as District Attorney and otherwise with the administra- 
tion of General Jackson, I learned some things which I am at liberty, without 
violating any duty, to communicate. 

" In the first place, 1 know that it was from the beginning a part of Mr. Van 
Buren's policy to draw to his support the Catholics of this country through their 
priests here, who were to be operated upon by the head of the Church abroad. I 
say this with perfect confidence ; and most striking events of the last election proved 
how successful he had been. This was in truth the last card upon which his friends 
in this State relied (the Glentworth affair was got up as a mere cover), and but for 
the great changes among the people of the country it would have been successfully 
played. You will recollect that the first diplomatic communication ever made to 
the Papal See was by Mr. Van Buren as Secretary of State ; and that our Consul 
at Rome, Signor Chicinani, who had been such for a great number of years, was 
removed to give place to a young American who had married an Italian woman. 
This change was not made to promote the interests of the person appointed. 

" I was in Rome when tlie change was made, and know all about the emoluments 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 315 

of the office; bat to promote Mr. Van Bnren's purposes, tlic former Consul b^in"- an 
Italian who had never been out of Rome, could not convey to the Governinent of 
His Holiness the knowledge neces'^ary to enable it to act efficiently and secretlv. 
There being no diplomatic intercourse authorized between the two countries the 
Consul must do the work ; but in addition Mr. Troop, Mr. Van Buren's most con- 
fidential friend, was taken from the Custom House (Naval office) in New York, and 
sent to Naples, as Charge d'Affiiires, where he has been continued for about four 
yeai-s, although no diplomatic agent was sent from that power to this (I hope you 
will recall him, and not send another in his place, at least until the King of Naples 
sends his representative to us). From Naples, I have been informed that this 
gentleman made frequent journeys to Rome where he was received in the most 
friendly and conlidential manner, and it was probably through him that the work 
was done. 

" Should it be deemed proper to counteract these measures by conveying to the 
Pope a knowledge of the fact that the administration, and, consequently, that the 
power has changed hands; which would be all that is necessary, inasmuch as that 
Church always follows power, and attaches itself to the existing government, I 
v.-oukl advise that the person appointed as Charge to Sardinia, now a vacancy, 
should be selected for his discretion, skill, and Jidelit!/, that he go hence to Naples 
in a public ship, thence by land to Rome and Florence and to his post, under 
instructions in writing to acquire such information as may be useful to his country, 
with verbal directions to present himself to the different courts in his progress; that 
the f;;ct of a change may be made known, and such other facts as may be useful. It 
is quite manifest that nothing can be more injurious to the Catholics as a body 
than any interference on the part of their priests in our elections; and of that 
their great spiritual head ought to be made aware, and thus this very dangerous 
and very pernicious influence may at once be checked. 

" I am aware that nothing can be more delicate, and require greater secrecy 
than this whole proceeding, and it is therefore well that I can communicate this 
information directly to yourself without having conferred with any other person on 
the subject. 

" When I was District Attorney of the Southern District of New York, T saw 
things which induced me to inf >rm General Jackson that the public moneys were 
not safe in Swartout's liands, and at the same time to point out a course of meas- 
ures which would tend to greater security in that office, and also in that of the office 
of District Attorney. It would affijrd me pleasure at any time to go to "Washington 
to confer with the Secretary of the Tre isury, or to write to him on these subjects. 

" I must beg your indulgence before I close this already too much extended let- 
ter to express the opinion that, in making selections for offices of pecuniary trust, 
there can be no security against defalratiims except in the previous discreet manage- 
ment of his private aifairs, and the good character of the person appointed ; and, 
therefore, that no man ought to be appointed to such places who is desperately in- 
volved. 

" In my note, asking a personal interview, I informed you that T ('id not want 
office. I think proper to qualify that assurance by requesting that if tlicre .should 
be war, or imminent danger thereof, I may be appointed to command a roiiimout, 
having during the last war attained the rank of major. 

"I have the honor to be, with very great respect, your obedient servant, &c." 



31 G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

James A. Hamilton to William Bkach Lawrence. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., April 12, 1841. 

" Dear Sir : I am endeavoring to collect, in an authentic form, the opinions of the 
aien of our ciuntry, who have been distinguished by rank or character, on the ques- 
tion of the conytituLionality of a Biml-c; of the United States. To that end I must 
beg the favor of you to repeat in writing tlie oi)inion expressed by Mr. Jefferson to 
Mr. Gallatin on that point; and. if you can refer me to any act or declaration of 
Mr. Monroe's on that subject, you will oblige me by doing so. I shall then have 
those of iill the Presidents. 

" Mr. A"an Bui-en, whose opinions, by the way, can, as authority except from his 
rank, add very little to any side of any of the great questions before the CDuntry, is 
the only man, I believe, who was, while in that office,*opposed throughout to the 
bank; although, in 1829, he declared to me that he agreed with Mr. Madison in 
the opinion that 'the cotemporaneous and continued, exposition of the Constitution 
by all the departments of the Government had settled that question,' and in 1816 
he and Governor Tompkins wrote to Judge Betts, then a member of Congress, as the 
latter informed me, urging him to support the Bank Bill. 

" With great respect and regard, your friend, &c." 

William Beach Lawrence to James A. Hamilton. 

"New York, April 18, 1841. 
* " Dear Sir: I have delayed my reply to your favor of the 12th instant in order 
to obtain the consent of Mr. Gallatin to give a written statement of the conversation 
to which I alluded as having taken place with him. For rea-ons, however, which I 
will explain wlien we meet, he does not feel at liberty to grant the desired permis- 
sion. 

" Without reference to what Mr, Jefferson would have done in a contingency in 
which lie was not called to act, we may infer what his course would have been by 
his decision as to the bills which were presented to him in relation to the first bank 
of the United States. These were, as you are aware, an Act supplementary to an 
Act entitled ' An Act to incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United 
States, March 2.3d, 1804,' and ' An Act to punisli frauds committed on the Bank of 
the United States, approved February 24tl), T807.' These laws recognized the 
Constitutional existence of the Bank, and the former enlarged the scope of its opera- 
tions. 

" The first memorial from the first Bank for a recharter was presented to Con- 
gress in x\pril, 1808, and referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, who did not re- 
port on it till March, 1809, a day or two before the end of President Jefferson's 
term. The sul ject was acted on at the next s.-ssion of Congress (Mr. Madison being 
President), and lost, as you will recollect, by the casting vote of Governor Clinton, 
Vice-President. The only official papers of Mr. Gallatin respecting the Bank are 
his report of March 2d, 1809, above referred to, and his letter to Mr. Crawford, 
Chairman of the Committee of the Senate, of January 30th, 1811. The bill to re- 
charter the Bank of 1791 was reported by Mr. Crawford. 

" 1 have just finislied the voluminous evidence before the Committee of the House 
of Commons as to banks of issue, and the result at which I have arrived is a con- 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 317 

firmed conviction, not only of the importance of establisliing foitliwith a national 
institution, but also to the expediency of forming it substantially and wlilioiit mate- 
rial alteration ou the basis of the one of which your illustrious father was the author 
and which was copied in its essential details in the Act of 1816. 

" I am, dear sir, yours truly, &c." 

Mr. Gallatin stated to a gentleman of credit, whose letter, dated June 30, 
1868, read as follows: •' All that I now remember as to Mr. Jefferson's views 
of a Bank as derived from him (Mr. Gallatin) is that he (Mr. Jefferson) re- 
quested Mr. Gallatin, in case the act should pass during his administration for a 
renewal of the charter of the old Bank of the United States, to have it done 
sufficiently early to enable the Bill to become a law without his agency. He 
was unwillins; to sign it." 

The records of the day prove that Mr. Gallatin was anxious that the Bank 
should be rechartered. 

James A. Hamilton to Henry Clay, Senator of the U. S. 

"DoBBs Fekry p. 0., June 23, 1841. 

" Dear Sie : I cannot withhold the expression of my approbation of your plan 
of a Bank, although I am aware that in doing so I trespass uselessly upon yuur valu- 
able time. 

" The separation of the sm;dl business of discounting notes from the high national 
duty (by making the Directors of the Bank a Board of Control), of watching the course 
of ti-ade of this and other countries, and thus regulating the currency, &c., is truly 
wise, and will be found practically very useful in shielding the Bank from the odium 
of dealings alone of a private and personal character. I forbear to point out various 
other advantages that press upon me in cnnsideration of my duty to you, and be- 
cause they must be present to your mind. There is no difficulty in preserving a bank 
from suspension, unless under some great national calamity, if its discounts are 
confined to paper, the result of business transactions of not over ninety days to run, 
and confining the extent of discounts to the amount of bills receivable and of de- 
posits ; that is to say, let no more go out at one end of the counter than is received 
at the other. 

" By confining discounts to business paper, you arrive at the great end of bank- 
ing — to wit, facilitating the circulation of capital instead of loaning capital." 

General Winfield Scott to James A. Hamilton. 

" WashinCxTon, July 20, 18-11. 

" Thank you, my dear Sir, for your note of the 14th. I now merely acknowletlge 
it that you may not imagine that I can be indifterent to your wishes. 

"Are you in earnest about a fighting conmiission in the event of war? Yon have 
certainly the highest hereditary right to military employment; and in the conlii- 
gency alluded t) you have nothing to do but to report your wishes, aii<l if ^frs. 
Hamilton will allow me, I shall be ready to launch you against the enemy. 

" There has been here, even in high quarters, quite a feeling of uneasiness in 



318 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

respect to onr relations with Great Britain. At least two of the open questions 
preseut great difficulties. Mr. AVebster, howevei*, when I last conversed with him, 
seemed confident that peace would he preserved ; and I see that Sir R, Peel, the 
probable future Premier of England, deprecates war with the United States in terms 
of great earnestness. "We, nevertheless, are about doing something in the way of 
preparation for the worst. This can't be wrong — nay, we should do much more. I 
have only time to scribble a line or two. My compliments to Madame. 

" Yours with great esteem, &c.." 

SECOND VOYAGE TO EUEOPE. 

VOYAGE TO KUSSIA. 

E,obert and George L. Schuyler were employed by the llussian Government 
to build a steamship of war, the Kamschaika. When nearly finished, the Rus- 
sian minister was not in funds to pay the contractors and the material men. 
The last, as the laws of New York authorized them to do, libelled the ship. 
Under these circumstances, the contractors were induced by their regard for 
the interests of the Government of Russia to borrow a large sura of money to 
pay off all these claims, and thus save the vessel from being sold. When their 
accounts were fully settled by the Russian minister, Bodisco, there was found 
to be due to them the sum of $55,089.42 ; and it was agreed that the ship 
should go to Russia, Mr. George L, Schuyler being made by the ship's papers 
owner and captain, but the acting captain being J. E. Van Schauts, of the Rus- 
sian navy, who came to New York to superintend the building of the ship and 
to take her home. The latter part of the arrangement could not be carried 
out because of the above-mentioned indebtedness ; consequently, it became 
necessary that George L. Schuyler should go out with the ship, the understand- 
ing and agreement being, that she was to remain iu his possession until the 
above amount was paid. Mr. George L. Schuyler (my son-in-law) addressed 
the following letter to me at Dobbs Ferry : 

"New York, Sunday night, September 26, 1841. 

"Dear Sir : I received your letter late last night, inclosing the letters of intro- 
duction. AYe have endeavoured to protect ourselves as well as we can, but liave 
agi'eed to let the ship sail on certain conditions. Come what may, however, I shall 
not give up the possession after my arrival until the balance due is- paid. If force 
is used, I must throw myself for protection upon the American Minister. 

"Under such circumstances, you can easily imagine how agreeable and important 
to me would be your presence at St. Petersburgh, to say nothing of my prospects in 
other countries, which would be so materially enhanced by your assistance. I shall 
not encumber this letter with any details of my plans, as I hope to see you before I 
go, which I now think will be on Wednesday morning. I trust you will decide 
to go; for I think it would be of great service to your health, as well as to my 
interests. 

" Very truly yours, &c. 

" George L. Schuyler." 



il 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 319 

I went to New York on Monday morning, and although out of health was 
persuaded by the members of my family to take the voyage. We sailed from 
New York, on Wednesday the 28th SejDtember, 1841. Our relations with Eng- 
land at that moment were very hazardous, in consequence of the " Caroline 
affair ; " it being understood that if McLeod was executed, or subjected to 
Lynch law (of which there was much danger), his death would be considered 
as war on our part. 

I met Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State of the United States, in New 
York the day before I sailed, and received from him a letter of introduction 
to our Minister at St. Petersburgh. Understanding that we were to go to 
England, he authorized me to say, that he had been assured by the Governor 
of New York, that if the prisoner was tried and found guilty he would be par- 
doned, and that measures had been taken to protect him in the jail by an armed 
force. In consequence of this fear of war, the Eussian Minister Bodisco 
directed that the ship, in order to avoid Halifax, should deviate from the usual 
course of a voyage, to the British Channel, by running in a southerly direction. 
I mention this because by following these orders we ran into the centre of a 
most furious tornado, which very materially damaged the upper works of the 
vessel. We could not lay to, because the Russian Captain, at the beginning of 
the gale, had housed all his spars and upper masts. We were, therefore, under 
the necessity of forcing her ahead by the engine, at the rate of two knots, 
against a head-sea which swept our decks. The peril was so imminent, that I 
was requested by Mr. Schuyler to ascertain how many inches of steam we were 
using, how many revolutions we were making, and our course; to write it down 
and pat the statement in a bottle corked up, to be thrown overboard. As I 
went on deck to do this, I saw a ship lying so near us, that as she rose on a moun- 
tain wave, I read her name without a glass, " Tiger, of Boston." We considered 
this a fortunate circumstance, as she would announce us when she arrived at 
her destination. The vessel was foundered in that gale, which continued forty- 
seven hours. 

From Southampton, where we remained a few days to repair and take in 
coals, I went up to London to make pecuniary arrangements to meet expenses 
in Russia. 1 here I visited my friend Sir Charles Vaughan, late British Min- 
ister in America. I repeated to him what Mr. Webster Lad stated to me. lie 
expressed much gratification, and asked permission to repeat it to the Premier. 
I assented, and the next day Vaughan called upon me, and informed me 
that the Premier wished \^ would call upon him. We went to the Foreign 
Office ; his Lordship asked me to repeat to him what Mr. Webster had stated to 
me, whicb I did. He expressed much gratification that the affair had taken 
that turn, and said to me, " Mi'. Hamilton, do you believe your government 
wishes to get into a war with us? " I said, " Certainly not.'' Ho replied, '' T 
rejoice to hear you say so; for, where there is a will, there is a way." 

He then invited me to a party for the next evening, where I had the good 



320 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

fortune to meet Lytton Bulwer, and to see the people of the highest rank in 
full costume. 

We sailed from Southampton, and arrived at Copenhagen on the 3d No- 
vember, where we remained a few days to clean and paint the ship. I quote 
from a letter addressed to a friend in New York such parts as are interesting 
in relation to the society and government of this, the capital city of Denmark. 

Copenhagen, Novemler Qih, 1841. — From the hour of departure from South- 
ampton until our arrival at this port, we were involved in thick clouds and 
darkness, and were, consequently, compelled to sail by the lead, throwing it 
every half hour. We groped our way like a blind man with his stick, or, rather 
backing and filling, like our ship of State, under the command of Captain Tyler. 
The ship came to anchor in the roads in the evening, and we took our boats to 
go on shore, but were required by the port regulations to report ourselves to 
the commanding officer of the outer work, a strong water-battery which forms 
a breakwater. In going into these quarters, we very innocently awakened the 
sentinel on his post, and alarmed the garrison. Von Schauts went on shore, and 
after much ado about nothing we received a written pass, and went our ways, 
hoping shortly to enjoy a warm supper and a good bed with dry sheets, and 
luxuries we knew nothing of on board our magnificent craft — then the most 
formidable steamslup in the world. "When we arrived at the quay, however, the 
only place of landing, two soldiers advanced and took us in charge, detaining 
us until the harbor master could decide whether it was safe at ten o'clock at 
night to admit a lady (the Captain's wife) and three gentlemen to this city of 
our pirate progenitors. So difficult a question could not, of course, occupy this 
official less than an hour. As soon as we were set free, we hurried to the Straus 
Hambourgh, the best hotel in the city, kept by a Scot. The domestics not speak- 
ing any language we could command, we had some difficulty but much amuse- 
ment in making our wants understood. I soon learned that, although thrown 
into a city I never expected to see, I had friends there. Le Chevalier Huygens, 
Minister Plenipotentiary of the King of Plolland, received me, as did his wife 
(a very clever woman) and their daughter in the most cordial and afi"ectionate 
manner. The latter being J)ame (Vllonneur to the Princess, who is the King's 
sister, and wife of the Landgrave of Hesse, informed me that the royal family 
■were to be at the theatre that evening. She immediately wrote to the director 
for two seats, and it was arranged that after the theatre (9 o'clock) we should 
come to her rooms, to meet some of the society of Copenhagen. We went there, 
and met our charg6 d'affaires (Mr. Jackson), a most excellent young man, and 
his wife, who was of the Carrol family of JNIaryland. 

Mr. Schuyler having a letter to a Mr. llyan, a merchant, he immediately 
invited us to dinner, and there we learned much that was useful and intcrchting. 

In the evening, we went to Chevalier Huygens' house, where we met a large 
assemblage of good society, and, among others, the Princess of Hesse, her hus- 
band, and daughter, to whom we were presented. Fortunately, for me, these 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 321 

people understood English. The High Admiral and Secretary for forcifn af- 
fairs were there. We made an appointment to meet the Pi-incess and suite 
incognito the next day on board the ship, and did so. We had the distiijTuished 
honor to take them through all parts and places, and to explain every thuiff to 
them, in all which they took a very deep interest. The King, with two officers 
went on board at an earlier hoxvc incognito. Not being recognized, the Lieutenant 
when he asked permission to go below, told him he might do so if he would wipe 
off his feet. His majesty readily complied, and was admitted to our superb 
residence. 

The Danes ai-e a quiet, inoffensive people, and very polite. They have light 
hair and eyes, with brilliant complexions. We were informed that they are 
generally taught to read and write, but such is the censorship of the press that 
they are not permitted to have books or newspapers. The government is abso- 
lute, and the people poor, dependent, and indifferent to their rights. The pres- 
ent King, when Viceroy of Norway, which country before the great deed of 
settlement of all Europe, the treaty of Vienna, formed a part of this kingdom, 
gave to the Norwegians the freest constitution in Europe, not excepting that 
of England, and which they insisted upon preserving when they became a part 
of the kingdom of Sweden. Consequently, when he came to the throne, it was 
expected that he would give a Constitutional Government to the Danes, but, 
alas for po ir human nature ! he has become more absolute than his father. The 
only submission he made to public opinion was, to allow the people of Copen- 
hagen to choose their municipal officers, which they do at a general election. 
All vote who are freemen of the city. At the first election, the people appeared 
pleased with, and exei'cised the privilege, but it soon fell into neglect and 
almost disuse. The truth is, the information and independence of position and 
feeling which are necessary to freedom do not exist here nor elsewhere in 
Europe, except in England. 

There are most extensive and well regulated public charities here ; hospit- 
als for all conditions of people, for widows, orphans, the infirm by age or disease. 
There are also public schools, at which the children of the peasants are taught 
to read and write. All religions are tolerated, although the Lutheran is the 
religion of the State. The revenues of the crown are derived from very heavy 
taxes upon property of all kinds, not assessed upon the income, but upon the 
capital itself, real and personal, duties upon imports and exports, and the sound 
dues, which amount to about £150,000 sterling per annum. The vessels of all 
nations are required to submit to this most serious exaction which is collected 
at Elsinore, in the Categat, about twenty miles from Copenhagen. We, of 
course, passed without interruption. We passed Elsinore, rendered so fomiliar 
and interesting by being the scene of the tragedy of " ILimlet," just as the sua 
was going down; and when he gave us the first glimpse of light, the scene was a 
beautiful one. The castle which commands the pass of about two miles wide, 
is situated on a point of land, and is a very old and most picturesque object. 
21 



322 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

It was once tlie summer residence of the Kings of Denmark, and there you see 
the platform on \yhich Horatio and his fellows met the ghost ; the spot where 
was the garden in which the King was accustomed to take his afternoon repose i 
the hifh cliff to which it was feared the ghost might tempt Lord Hamlet. 

Cronstadt^ November 11, 1841. — We arrived here early in the morning. 
Von Schauts went to St. Petersburg, and came back the next day. We were 
led to believe the Emperor would come down to see the ship. He did not 
come, in consequence of a snow storm. The next day, another captain came on 
board with two hundred men to take command of the ship, and put her into 
the naval dock-yard. As this was a violation of the agreement with Mr. 
Schuyler, viz., that he was to retain the possession of the vessel until the 
amount due was paid, he protested against the vessel being taken out of his 
possession. The answer was, that if she remained where she was, she would be 
endano-ered by the ice, which was forming so fast that in a few days she could 
not be removed to a place of safety. The new captain hauled the ship up to 
the gate of the naval dockyard to ascertain if the entrance was broad enough 
to take her through. After bringing the vessel, by working half a day, to the 
entrance, the captain ascertained that she was too broad. She was, therefore, 
hauled into the dock through the commercial gate. It would have been much 
easier and wiser to have asked what her breadth of beam was, and what the 
measure of the opening was. 

The Russian sailors wore gloves, I suppose to keep their hands warm, boots, 
:and long coats. They were serfs. Their bread was made in rings, with salt 
water, and was very dark-colored. They had no beds ; yet, in spite of their 
tard fare, they were healthy-looking men. Their captain stood on the wheel 
louse, and was scolding nearly all the time. When he found the vessel could 
not go through the opening, he threw his hat down, stamped upon it, and swore 
most awfully. The hauling was by eleven men in a string. No means were 
used to take up the slack and thus secure what had been gained. The piers 
were excellently built. The basin was large and commodious, and well armed 
to resist an attack by water. The ships of war appeared to be good models. 
.As soon as the vessel was carried to her berth, we went to the hotel (much 
difficulty at the Custom House as to our baggage). We immediately took 
measures to pay off our crew, and to secure passages to America for such as 
wished to go there. Several went to Norway, Sweden, and other parts of the 
continent. Some of the American colored men went into the service of offi- 
cers, who were anxious to employ them. 

The people of all classes were very civil in their deportment to each other. 
One practice at the hotel was unusual elsewhere — I may say objectionable to 
the fastidious : a servant sent to light a pipe took a few whiffs, and handed it 
to the guest who had ordered it. 

The Custom House was open on Sunday after one o'clock. The billiard rooms 
were also open, as were the officers' club rooms on that day. The Russian 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 323 

stoves in hotels are so placed as to warm two or four rooms. The outsides of these 
stoves are of porcelaiu. A servant comes very early in the morning, and makes a 
wood-fire in the stove. It burns very rapidly, and as the heat revolves througli the 
openings in the brick-work, the great mass — probably four feet square and ei<dit 
feet high, becomes thoroughly heated. At a later hour, he returns and gathers 
up all the uDConsumed pieces and places them on the coals, iu order that every 
particle which can make a smoke shall be consumed. When this is done, he 
returns and shuts a damper to prevent the heat from passing up the chimney, 
and it thus passes from the bricks and stones into the rooms. The houses are 
generally very well warmed. On going ashore at Croustadt, our passports 
were sent to the Admiral, who was Governor. He sent them to Petersburg, 
and gave to each a pass. Von Schauts had, to the Governor of Cronstadt and 
Count Nesselrode, Prime Minister at Petersburgh, cracked me off as a most dis. 
tinguished person, who had been Secretary of State, and probably would be 
President of the United States, &c., &c. In my pass I was described as 
" formerly Secretary of State of the United States, &c." This pass was shown 
at the Custom House at our departure from Croustadt. We visited the Ad- 
miral, and were treated with marked civility. We left Cronstadt in an open 
boat to cross the bay, about seven miles, and were much obstructed by ice on 
our way to Petersburgh. At the public house, when we landed, I first saw hot 
tea prepared to be drunken from a tumbler. This is very common. 

St. Fetershurg. — Our passes were delivered to our landlady, who sent them 
to the police. We were required to go the next day to the Chief of Secret Police 
to give an account of ourselves. The Chief was Count * * *, a brother to 
Princess Leiven, to whom we had a letter of introduction from Bodisco. He was 
very civil to us. The day being a half fete day, we were not received. On 
Monday, we went with our passes to the same place. On mine there was a loug 
indorsement in the Russian language. Here we signed our names, were treated 
with great politeness, and sent with another paper to the police office in another 
quarter of the city, where I was asked if this was my first visit, where I was 
born, etc. I Avas required to sign my name again, and there we received a 
ticket of residence with our pass, which was delivered to our landlady. This 
proceeding costs one pound sterling. 

In the evening, we went to see Taglioni, the famous dancer, in one of her 
great pieces, and truly she was great in it. The dresses and scenery were 
magnificent, surpassing all I had before seen. 

On Tuesday, Schuyler called upoa Prince MenschikofF, but could not sec 
him. In the evening, we went to the "Theatre Michel" (vaudeville). The 
house was not full ; the people were very silent. We now had the first oppor- 
tunity to see the Imperial family. As we did not know the Emperor was 
expected to be at the theatre, and there was no manifestation by the people 
when he entered, we were not apprized of his presence until, turning toward 
the private box, I saw a face which was familiar to me. I had, agaiu aud 



324 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

again, examined witli care the portraits of Nicholas. Turning to Schuyler, I 
told him who I thought was there, and desired him to ask the jiersou next 
him. I was right. It was tlie Emperor — an uncommonly handsome man ; the 
Empress, Madame the Grand Duchesse Marie Nicholaievne, and her husband 
were also there, as was the heir apparent and his wife. 

Novemher 12tJi-24:th. — Captain E. Poothattin, of the Eussian Imperial Navy, 
and aid to Prince MenschikofF, called at an early hour on behalf of the Prince, 
allen-ino-, as an excuse for the Prince's not having received us, that he could 
not speak English. The captain wished to see the accounts of the building of the 
vessel. Schuyler told him he had no accounts ; he did not come here to settle an 
account, but under an agreement made with Mr. Bodisco and Captain Von Schauts, 
which was in writing, and which he would show to him, to receivs the sum he had 
advanced for the Emperor, to save the ship from a sale under an arrest. Schuyler 
then produced the original and a copy of the agreement. He gave the captain the 
copy, which he read. I then read the original emphatically, he following me read- 
in «• the copy. I showed him the original. The captain kept the copy, in order 
to show it to the Prince. Schuyler, as an excuse for his importunate visits, 
explained to him that the money advanced had been borrowed in New York, 
and was to be paid there on the 1st of February next ; that if his notes were 
not then paid, he would be ruined, and Mr. Bodisco, the Minister, would be 
discraced : that this agreement had not been communicated here by us to any 
one as a matter of delicacy to the Emperor. He wished to know for what this 
money became due. I explained that it was for balances due to mechanics for 
building the ship, for the engine and boilei'S, &c. I explained the right Von 
Schauts had to reject the boilers and engines, if, after trial, they were found 
deficient, and the propriety of keeping back a balance of such payments until 
the last moment. I explained the laws of our country giving to mechanics the 
rio-ht to seize vessels through the Courts of Admiralty, and that process to that 
effect had been taken out, Schuyler then stated that Mr. Bodisco, not having 
the funds, and being unable to raise them, applied to him to do so, which he 
consented to do upon the positive assurance that the money would be paid im- 
mediately on his arrival in Russia ; and added, that he did not doubt it would 
be paid, to which the captain replied, " Oh ! certainly, it will be paid, but the 
Prince wants to know more of the accounts." The answer to this was, " Cap- 
tain Von Schauts has got them at Cronstadt ; they were rendered monthly, 
with the vouchers, which will be found to show how every dollar had been 
spent, and a wish was expressed that he might be ordered to come here with 
the accounts and the vouchers." The captain's reply was, that the inter- 
course was cut off by the ice (Captain Pepin, who came over in the ship and 
was with us the day before, told us he was going there, and that the communica- 
tion was open). The captain left us, saying he would take the papers and 
would inform the Prince of what had passed ; that he was to go to-day to see 
the Emperor at Tsarkoe Selo (his summer residence, twenty miles distant from 
the city). We knew, on the contrary, that the Emperor was in the city. 



liEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 325 

November 14-24. — I drew this day from Baron Steiglitz, Bauker, against 
my deposit with him of £100, the sum of 174 silver rubles, which is nearly 
thirty pounds sterling. 

Not having received any communication from the Minister of Marine 
directly or indirectly, since the visit of Captain Poothattin, a letter was pre- 
pared by me on the 18th of November, reciting all the particulars which had been 
given to the captain, and laying the whole case before his Excellency in the 
clearest, but at the same time most courteous language. This letter was signed 
by Mr. Schuyler, and sent by him to the Minister. 

" St. Peteksbukg, ISTovember 18-30, 1841. 
" His Excellency Peince Menschikoff, Minister of Marine, &c. 

"Your Excellency: After my communication to your Excellency of the ll-23d 
instant, Captain E. Poothattin called upon me in your Excellency's name, and to 
him I had the honor to make known for yonr Excellency's information nil tlie cir- 
cumstances of my demands, and to deliver to him a copy of the agreement executed 
by Captain Von Schauts, dated September 28th, after tlie same had been compared 
by liim with the original in my possession, in wliich it is distinctly declared tliat I 
am the owner of the ship Eamscliatta^ and that she is not to be tranferred lo Ids 
Imperial Majesty, either directly or by implication, until the sum of $55,089.42, 
which is therein ccriififd to be due to me, shall have been paid. I subsequently 
received a visit from Captain Von Schauts, and was requested by him to assist in pre- 
paring a statement of tiie cost of the ship from the accounts in his possession, which 
accounts — your Excellency has, no doubt, been informed by him — were duly rendered 
to liim at tlie end of each month, fully examined by him with tlie original accounts 
and vouchers, and certified by him to be correct. And here allow me to add that 
no contracts were entered into by us with builders or others which were not tirst 
submitted to him and received his sanction, nor was any money paid on such ac- 
counts until he examined and allowed tliem. Greater caution to preserve entire 
fidelity could not well have been observed. With this request from Captain Von 
Schauts I have cheerfully complied, and this summary thus prepared, when examined 
by your Excellency, cannot fail, as regards its clearness and accuracy, to be entirely 
satisfactory. Not having been honored by a second interview with Captain Poot- 
hattin, and from the pressure of your Excellency's engagements not having been per- 
mitted to have a personal interview with your Excellency, and thus fully to explain 
the peculiarity of my situation, I now address this note to your Excellency, to inform 
you, and through you his Imperial Majesty, that after the lapse oi — days from ihis 
date it will be too late to remit the money to the United States to arrive in time to 
meet the engagements I assumed there in order to enable mo to make the advance 
for his Imperial M.ijesty, to wliich I have referred. I fear your Excellency will 
deem me importunate in making this second communication, but I trust I shrdi be 
excused by your Excellency when you learn, as I now assure you is the ca*e, tliat 
uidess the money is remitted in time to reach the United States before tlie 2Stli day 
of January next (new style), on which day my notes will become due, tliat if 
they are not paid, ray credit will be destroyed, and I shall be exposed to inevit.ible 
ruin. I do not present myself to your Excellency, nor to his Imperial Muje?ty, to 



3.26 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

settle the accounts of the ship Kamschafka ; that was, in fact, done; and, from the 
nature of the transactions, was necessarily required to be dene in Xevv York, where, 
by her completion, my connection with her as her constructor, and the accounts 
thereof entirely ceased ; but, I have come here to ask his Imperial Majesty to cause 
to be paid to me the sum of $55,089.42, which was advanced by me to his Imperial 
Majesty, to save the Eamschatla from a legal arrest and a sale, or a long detention 
in the United States, and much additional expense ; an advance made by me at the 
earnest request of Mr. Bodisco, his Imperial Majesty's Minister in the United States, 
and under the most positive assurance from that Minister that, immediately on my 
arrival, the amount I had so loaned to his Imperial Maje-ty would be repaid — a con- 
dition of the loan which kindly required such assurance, as it necessarily resulted 
from the honorary nature of the transactions, and that the ship would be accepted 
by his Imperial Majesty, and transferred by me to him in such manner as should be 
advised ; of all which I take tlie liberty, with great respect, from what passed be- 
tween his Excellency, de Bodisco, and myself, to say he promis>-d to infurin your 
Excellency in the despatches which Captain Yon Schauts delivered to your Excel- 
lency on the evening of the 1st and 2d instant. Ard allow me to add th;it I am now 
entirely uninformed whether his Imperial Mnjesty will accept the ship, pay the 
amount due to me, and receive a transfer of her, or whether she is to remain in my 
possession as the owner thereof, to be disposed of by me, as such owner, as future 
cii'cumstances may dictate. 

" In closing this note, allow me to intimate with as much delicacy as referring at 
all to the character of the transaction will permit, and as I m.jst stdnlously desire 
to observe toward his In^perial Majesty and the high functionaries of his govern- 
ment, that I was not constrained to make this advance as an act of duty. On the 
contrary, I might have required all the debts of the ship lo be paid before her de- 
parture from the United States, and have folded my arms to await that result. But, 
not regarding my own interest or convenience alone in this matter, confiding in the 
assurance of his Majesty's Minister, and witii unhesitating reliance upon the honor 
and integrity of his Imperial Majesty, and to promote his wishes for the prompt ar- 
rival of the ship, I assumed this, to me, heavy pecuniary responsibility, and thus I 
did an act which, instead of being one of duty, m;iy, I trust, without ostentation or 
assuming too much, be characterized as one of gratuitous and laudable service to his 
Imperial Majesty which, allow me with great respect to say, may be supposed to 
deserve at least a prompt requital. I well know how numerous and important must 
be the claims upon your Excellency's time, and I beg leave to say that, were it not 
from the peculiar and urgent nature of my position, I have too much respect for your 
Excellency thus again to press myself upon your attention." 

On our return to our lodgings we found a note from Col. Todd, American 
Minister, saying : "Inconsequence of an inquiry made by Count Nesselrode 
(the Minister of Foreign Aifairs) it may be of consequence to you to have a 
conference with Col. Todd in the course of the day, in the event that you may 
wish to be presented to the Emperor." Schuyler immediately went to see the 
Colonel, who told him that Count Nesselrode had suggested that we might be pre- 
sented to the Emperor, if we wished, at the same time with him — probably on 
Sunday next. We assented to this most reasonable wish of his Majesty to see 



KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 327 

us, and the Colonel is so to inform tlie Count. We dined this day with Baron 
Steio-litz, — a very handsome French dinner. The American Minister and his 
Secretary (the now celebrated Motley) ; four others who spoke English— one 
an American, the Baron's sister, and his son with his young wife, throe months 
married — a very agreeable party. I had some conversation with StoigUtz 
about the country. He says Nesselrode was born on board ship in the Tagus. 
He is 56 years old. The English, Portuguese, and Kussians, claim him. He 
is a very wise man, and has great influence with the Emperor. The people of 
Bussia have a religious veneration and love for the Emperor. They are taught 
this by their prayers; — 'God and the Emperor." The sudden and great 
changes he made in the monetary system proved this. The Baron feared it 
would produce an emcute, but it was immediately acquiesced in. The debt of 
Russia is at an average of five per cent, interest and at London it is thirteen per 
cent, above par, 

I quote from the iudorsement on the draft of the following letter : " Peters- 
burg, November 10, 22, 1811. I had a conversation with Von Schauts this 
morning, in which I expressed the views stated in this draft of a letter. At his 
request, I prepared the within copy which was handed to him. The last para- 
graph being erased, he said it was satisfactory, and left me to communicate it 
to Prince Menschikofi"." 

To Captain John E. Von Schauts, &c., &c., &c. 

" St. Peteesburg, November 10, 22, IS-tl, 
" My Deae Sie : With tlie same desire I have manifested on former occasions to 
preserve harmony and produce results by means the least disagreeable, I address 
this note to you. The protests which Mr. Schuyler has on two occassions addressed 
to you were made und^ my advice, in order to preserve unimpaired his possession 
and title as Captnin and owner of the ship Kamschatlca. This title results as well 
from the papers which were issued to him under the laws and by the authorities of 
the United States as by his agreement with you of the 28th September last ; by 
which last paper it is distinctly declared tiiat he is the owner of the ship, and that 
she is not to be transferred to his Imperial Majesty, either directly or by implication, 
until the sum of $55,089.42 (fifty-five thousand and eiglity-nine dollars and forty- 
two cents) which is therein certified to be due to him, sliall have been paid to him. 
I fear, from what has passed here, that Mr, Schuyler's true position, and the exigency 
of his situation, are not clearly understood, and therefore now call them to your at- 
tention, lie does not come here to settle the accounts of the ship— that w^as, in 
fact, done, and from the nature of the transnction was necessarily done in New 
York, where, by her completion, his conneciL-n with her as her constructor, and the 
accounts thereof, necessarily ceased ; but he has come to receive from his Imperial 
Majesty the above mentioned sum advanced by him to his Imperial M;ijesty, to save 
the Kamschaaa from a legal arrest, and a sale, which you know she was in a condi- 
tion by t]:e laws of the United States to be subjected to, or a long detention in the 
United States at very great additional expense— an advance made by him at the 
urgent request of his Imperial Majesty's Minister Extraordinary in the United 



328 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Stntcp, who Lad not the ability to raise tliat sum, and upon the express condition that 
it frhnuld be paid to him on the arrival of the ship. You well know that in ord*.r to 
render this gratuitous, and, allow me to say, this meritorious service, to his Imperial 
Majesty, Mr. Schuyler w;is under the necessity of issuing liis notes jiayable in four 
months from the 25th September, which notes will fall due on the 28th day of Jan- 
uary next, new style, and I assure you that unless he is repaid before the 20th in- 
stant (20th December) it will be too late to remit the money to the United States, to 
meet the payment of the notes. The duty of Mr. Schuyler was to cause the ship to 
be built, and settle the accounts in New-York; and, having done so, he might have 
folded his arms and have said, ' now pay what is due, and take the ship'— and here 
all his obligations ceased. 

" With very great respect and regard, your friend and servant, 

" James A. IIamii.tox." 



On the 23d day of November, Captain Von Schauts called upon me (Schuy- 
ler being absent). He told me, he had coramuuieated the letter I Avrote to him 
to Prince Menschikoff, who informed him that the papers were sent to the 
Minister of Finance, and advised us, from the Prince, that we should go to 
him. I replied, " that is very satisfactory ; does Prince Menschikoff authorize 
you to say this ? " He answered, " He does." Von Schauts then continued : 
" Colonel, you have held a high office in your own country, and you probably 
know that there, as well as here, and in all governments, where any money is 
paid out by any department, it is customary to pay to the chief of that depart- 
ment and his subordinates a small portion of the amount so received, in the 
nature of a compensation for their trouble. I replied, " Captain, I understand 
you to intimate that Prince Menschikoff, Captain Poothattin, you, and others in 
that department, are to receive a portion of the amount duo to Mr. Schuyler ? " 
He replied, " Certainly." " ^Yell, Captain, I am gratified by your frankness, 
and now 1 intend to be equally frank. I know of no such practice in the 
United States, and am quite sure there is none such there. I understand you 
to say it is an accustomed practice here. Now I wish you to understand me. 
We intend to receive the amount due to Mr. Schuyler under his agreement, and 
we do not intend to give Prince Menschikoff, yourself, or any other subordinate 
in his department, a single ruble ; and further, if the money cannot be obtained 
without making the payments suggested, that Mr. Schuyler would, as owner of 
the ship, take her to London, and sell her for whomever it might concern. And, 
further, let me say to you, that my connection with public affairs has taught 
me never to leave to the recollection of parties important conversations ; but 
always to reduce them to writing at the time. I will, to that end, retire and 
put into the form of a letter what has now passed between us — you will remain 
here to receive it." Von Schauts said," Oh! no, Colonel, that is not neces- 
sary." Hamilton, " Yes, sir, it is ; and if you do not remain, I shall send the 
letter to you, and you will thus lose the opportunity of correcting my state- 
ment." 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 329 

He consented to remain, a draft of the letter was made and read to him 
he agreed that it was correct, but wished me to strike out the hist part which 
was a threat to which, as an oiEcer of his Majesty, he could not listen. I 
erased that part, made a copy, signed it, and delivered it to him. When 
Schuyler returned, T told him what had passed, showed him the letter to Von 
Schauts, and then said, " our only course now is to go to the Emperor. He 
is a just man, and will not permit this attempt to enforce a contribution from 
you to these people. I believe all this delay is to be attributed to this at- 
tempt upon you." I then advised him to go immediately to our Minister, and 
urge him to ask Count Nesselrode, the Premier, to permit us to be presented 
to him. Todd immediately wrote to Count Nesselrode, and we were very soon 
presented, with Mr. Motley, who, as Secretary of Legation, had not been pre- 
sented. It was previously arranged that Mr. Todd was to say that Mr. 
Schuyler and Mr. Hamilton wished to have an interview with him on business, 
whenever he could receive them. This was suggested by Todd. The Count 
acquiesced, and said that the present was the most convenient time. The 
Minister and his Secretary took their leave, and we were conducted by the 
Count to his private office, where Schuyler stated his case clearly, and I stated 
what had passed between Von Schauts and myself, and that I had addressed a 
letter to him reciting the conversation. The Minister promptly said, " Mr. 
Hamilton, repeat what that letter contains." I did so, and added that, as I 
well knew the Emperor was a just man who could not sanction such practices, 
I had advised Mr. Schuyler that our only course was to get to his Majesty, 
and with that view we had sought this interview with him. He directly said, 
" Gentlemen, send to me a copy of the agreement you have referred to and 
[emphaticalli/), a copy of that letter," pausing a moment he said, " No ! you 
must send these papers to me through your Minister, I am then bound to 
communicate them to his Majesty." The copies of both were immediately 
prepared, and with the originals Mr. Scliuyler took them to Col. Todd, who 
assented to what was proposed. A letter was prepared and sent by him with 
the papers. 

Five days afterward. Count Nesselrode addressed a note to Mr. Todd, 

requesting him to inform Mr. Schuyler that if he would call upon Count , 

Minister of the Treasury, that he would receive fifty-five thousand and eighty- 
nine y*jj-y- dollars in rubles. This was communicated to Baron Steiglitz, who 
sent his porter with Schuyler, who, after going through the forms of office, 
received the amount in rubles at a most favorable rate, and deposited the same 
with the Baron, who afterwards said to me, " I knew what you came for on 
your arrival ; and well knew that, according to the accustomed course of busi- 
ness here, you would be detained at least sis months : and here you have got 
your mono}', at the most favorable rate, in less than thirty days." 

I now proceed with my journal. 

A change of a most important character has been made in this Government 



330 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

since the death of Paul who was strangled by his courtiers. Formerly, the 
nobles governed the Emperor and people. Now, the Emperor, having attached 
the people to him, and by the influence of an army of a million of men, governs 
the nobles and the people. The wish and effort of the Emperor is to improve 
the condition of the country, and to raise up the people ; but he fears to do so 
by the direct and usual means. He wishes the mind of the nation to advance 
generally, but to stand still and remain in ignorance as it respects the authority 
of government. His absolutism is inconsistent with his desire for improvement. 
lie draws foreigners and their improvements to him, but is opposed to allow- 
ing his subjects to go abroad. These subjects pay a high tax for a passport, 
A nobleman told me that he was delayed three months before he could get his 
passport. The purpose of this delay was to deter hjm from leaving the Empire. 
This policy is founded upon the fear of introducing liberal opinions, and to 
compel the nobles to spend their money in the Empire. 

The schoolmaster will not do his work among this or any other people, on 
these terms. 

It is generally, almost universally, conceded that the Emperor Nicholas is 
a good man — that he would command the respect and esteem of all who know 
him. if he were in a private station. He is averse to ostentation, and shows 
himself everywhere as a private gentleman without any attendants. I have 
seen him often, walking and driving about, alone. The people give way to him, 
and he returns the salutes of gentlemen who meet him. His army is the object 
of his supreme attention. 

As far as I can judge from the people in the streets and at the theatres, 
the men are large and athletic, but fat. They wear coats, and trowsers, and 
overcoats made of sheep-skin with the wool on, which, in winter, is turned to 
the skin ; also woolen caps. Their feet are covered with shoes and large, 
coarse, knitted stockings, fastened with thongs about the ankles and legs. I 
have seen men at work, v.'hen a crow would alight near them, put their hands 
to their foreheads, and make an obeisance, a superstition which was not ex- 
plained to me. 

The women are large and fat, and generally pretty ; faces broad, noses 
short, eyes and hair black. I refer to the people you meet on the streets, 
those I saw at the theatres appeared to be luxurious in their habits, well covered 
with rich furs. The property of women remains theirs after marriage as it was 
before, and cannot be touched by the husband without the wife's consent. 

There were no railroads in 1841, although one was in contemplation be- 
tween St. Petersburg and Moscow. It is now completed. In travelling 
between these two cities, the higher order used their own carriages in which 
they had beds, and they carried their drinking water. 

llie Serfs. — As this is a subject of the deepest interest, I have endeavored 
to acquire the most correct information. Almost the whole peasantry are 
slaves to different masters who own from one or two to twenty thousand. They 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 331 

are transferred with the land, sometimes without it, bartered for horses and 
other personal property ; this is very exceptional, and an abuse. They are allow- 
ed, and, it is said they have a right, upon engaging to pay a certain stipulated 
price (the amount is at the will of the master, and depends upon his estimate 
of their capacity, and varies from three to one hundred dollars) to go off and 
seek their own living. If they do not make the payment regularly, they are 
denied the privilege. Each one has a written pass, without which he is liable 
to be taken up as a runaway by the police. Some of them have become men 
of fortune. One of the largest fruiterers in St. Petersburg is a serf who has 
offered his owner thirty thousand rubles for his freedom — more of him hereafter. 

I was informed by the proprietor of a large iron manufactory that they are 
apt to learn their trades, but when they have acquired their art, being under 
the necessity of returning to their homes at the end of two years, they lose what 
they have acquired. In a manufactory of arms, etc., I found women at work, 
as well as men. On the estates, they are said to be lazy and induced to work 
by the lash alone, which is applied without restraint by the drivers. During 
four days in the week, they are required to till the lands of their owners, during 
two days, the land adjacent to the houses they occupy, which is set apart for 
them, and from which they are required to raise as much as will support them 
and their families. They have houses and fire-wood, nothing more. In culti- 
vating their own land, they have not the use of cattle, consequently, there have 
been instances where the man holds the plough, and his wife and children draw 
it. In Italy, I have seen a cow and women hauling the plough, and a man hold- 
ing it. Very frequently, on the continent, women are seen with a basket hang- 
ing from their shoulders on the back, into which they collect the horse-droppings 
ou the roads. 

The serfs belonging to the crown, of whom there are a great number, are 
treated more indulgently. 

The liability of the serfs for sale without the land is certain in the German 
provinces. Alexander, after his return in 1815, made all the serfs in these 
provinces free, as an experiment, whether with compensation to their owners or 
not, I do not know ; the effect, however, is understood not to have bettered 
their condition, because now, instead of their owners or the proprietors of the 
estates receiving from them a rent or capitation tax, and being iu cases of fail- 
ure of crops compelled to provide for them as heretofore, thoy charge them a 
rental for the lands and the houses they occupy, which is higher than (he feudal 
service they before rendered. It is agreed on all hands that they do not work 
industriously ; the nature of the system of servitude necessarily induces this, 
here and in my own honored land. 

The proprietors are required to furnish soldiers, according to their wealth ; 
they send their serfs. The persons who are to go, are decided by drawing lots ; 
sometimes, when there is on the estate a bad man, he is sent. 

The carpenters and house builders receive sixty rubles a month wages, 



332 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

out of which they provide their food, which consists of black (rye) bread, salt, 
aad quash, a very thin malt liquor almost as tasteless as the rinsing of a tum- 
bler of brown-stout. In the city, this drink is very cheap, not over a copeck a 
bottle, and on Sunday they indulge themselves with soup made of meat, a small 
portion of cabbage and onions, with salt. I went into the house of one of the 
poorer class in St. Petersburg, and found they were frying sauer krout in train 

oil the atmosphere was filled, as were my clothes, with the offensive uprising. 

The adults are taught to read and write ; measures are now in progress to 
teach the children. They have no beds, but, roUing themselves in their sheep- 
skins, sleep very sweetly on the floors, with a log under their heads. In the 
summer, owing to the vermin in their houses, they go to the fields to sleep. 

One of the great sources of revenue is derived from the sale of liquor. The 
country is divided into several departments. The government sells the right to 
sell liquor in each department; of course, the price depends essentially on the 
number of inhabitants who will drink. The association which purchases a 
department, undersells divisions thereof, counties, towns, or villages, as we 
should say, to diifereut persons, who open shops in all quarters and places. It 
thus becomes their interest, and the interest of the government, that the people 
should drink to excess. Liquors of all kinds are sold at low prices in great 
quantities, and the people are rapidly becoming drunkards. This consequence 
and its effect upon the lives of the people, which are computed to have been short- 
cued ten years upon an average, was forcibly presented to his Imperial Majesty 
by the philanthropist Baird with great efiect. His Majesty said to him, " Point 
out to me another source of revenue equal to this, and I will substitute it." 
This was a politic answer, though others could be found. I believe the im- 
proved navigation of the Volga might afford this substitute. This is a subject 
of vast importance. 

The jurisprudence of this country is as corrupt as possible. I have most 
reluctantly permitted myself to believe this, being aware, as a traveller, how 
readily we are imposed upon, and how imperfect, and oftentimes how unfair, 
are our sources of information ; but I hear this from all quarters, and one res- 
ident (a man very much disposed to mitigate what was said, and to put the best 
appearance on all that he told me) said it was unquestionably true that the 
judges constantly expect and receive bribes. There are no open discussions in 
courts ; the pleadings are submitted to the judges in writing. This gentleman 
told me he had two cases of plain justice, which were both decided against him, 
during the pendency of which he was told by various persons that his only 
^ course was to go to the judges, talk wnth them about his case, and, at his depart- 
ure, leave a package of money on the table. His adversary did so, and suc- 
ceeded in both cases ; various other persons told me the same thing. Cases of 
much importance, and involving certain great principles may be taken to the 
Emperor, who always judges and decides uprightly. It is quite certain that 
frauds have been openly practiced heretofore, in all departments of the govern- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 333 

ment, and that the prevailing opinion here is, that most persons who areeno'ao'ed 
in receiving or paying out the public moneys, steal more or less of it. 

Count Cancreaux, Minister of Finance, has beefl of great service to his 
country in correcting these abuses. He found the receivers of the customs were 
very inadequately paid, as are all the officers of the government. Proccedinre 
upon the conviction that if they were not sufficiently paid to support them- 
selves, they must " pluck the goose," he has so raised their salaries that they are 
now, as a class, better paid than any other officers. He then establifshed checks • 
among others the following, which is worthy of imitation. He requires one 
original invoice and bill of lading of every importation, to be sent to him on 
the arrival of every ship. One copy of each is given to the custom house, 
another to the consignee or owner, and one other copy of the bill of lading is 
kept by the Captain. He then requires an account to be opened, in books kept 
at the treasury, with each vessel ; with which account he compares that rendered 
by the Custom House, and as the duty each vessel ought to pay is known, he is 
thus enabled to ascertain the amount of duties which ought to be received and 
accounted for by the collector. 

The Arm)/. — One other evil to which the serfs are subjected. Tiie Empire 
is divided into two grand departments, and recruits for the army arc drawn, 
one year from the lower, and the next year from the upper department; the 
serfs, consequently, who are permitted to go abroad to work, as before stated, 
are required to return to their villages every two years, to be present and take 
their chance of being drafted, which is a loss to them of several months of their 
time and, if thoy are artisans, to a loss by want of use of the aptitude and 
knowledge they had acquired. This is a complaint made to me by a large iron 
manufacturer, who spoke of it from his own knowledge as an evil from which 
he had suffered much. 

The women work in the fields and in the shops as artisans. Schuyler saw 
them burnishing, for which work they receive one and a quarter rubles a day 
of fourteen hours, deducting two hours for their meals. The best artisans, 
at the best smith-work, receive fifteen dollars a month, and find themselves. 
Imprisonment for debt is allowed. The creditor who causes the imprison- 
ment is compelled, however, to pay three and a half silver rubles a month for 
the support of his debtor, which effectually mitigates its duration and severity. 

Education. — '^he universities and other establishments to educate the higher 
classes are very extensive. Teachers and men of science are well paid, and 
drawn from all quarters of the world ; and the Russians are encouraged to 
make themselves competent to fill these stations. These sources of education 
are open to the children of impoverished nobles without price ; and to those 
who can pay for the small sum of one hundred rubles (about twontj'-fivc dol- 
lai's a year). This plan was recently adopted, in order to render the n;igration 
of young men of this class to seek an education, unnecessary. The (jovoru- 
ment fears liberal opinions more than a pestilence. 



334 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

If tlie inheritors of a title sliall not through three generations have served 
in the army, the title is destroyed. Very generally, the nobility are unable to 
sustain themselves by the incomes of their estates. A Lombard bank has been 
opened in many of the departments, where money may be deposited at four per 
cent, interest ; and where money is loaned out at six and seven per cent, upon 
real estate and the pledge of chattels ; and thus the nobles, who are expected 
by the Grovernment to be profuse in their expenditures and magnificent in 
their style of living, particularly when they come to the capital, have become, 
from their necessities, indebted very generally to these institutions, which are 
Government organizations— and from this it is said and believed, tlaat the 
nobility are generally indebted to the Government ; and thus their estates, when 
they are called upon for payment, belong to the Government. 

The possessions of the Empercr are vast, and in every part of the empire; 
and it is said a large portion of St. Petersburg belongs to him. \ 

Lord Stewart de llothsay, the English ambassador, sent his card to inform 
us that he received on Monday and Tuesday, between twelve and three o'clock. 
'We went there, had a little chat, and saw princ:s, counts, and high officers of 
the llussian Government, with foreign ministers dressed in most gorgeous uni- 
forms. We learned their names, but could not procure them. At a private 
interview with Lord de Rothsay, talking of the Russian character, and partic- 
ularly of their habitual exaggeration, he said their disregard of truth was so 
great that he had been instructed by his Government to inquire whether they 
were to be guided, in their intercourse with them, by what they said, or what 
they did. Mr. Schuyler was at a dinner at. a noble house, where one of the 
guests was an aid of the Emperor. A gentleman, sitting opposite, told a most 
extraordinary story. When he had concluded, this aid said, " Sir ! that is an 
untruth, and you know it ! " This did not appear to be considered as an offence. 
The person to whom it was said seemed only to feel that he was called upon to 
sustain what he had said. 

lite Greek Church — the religion of the Umpire. — All sects are tolerated. If 
either father or mother be a member of the established Church, the children 
must belong to it. The office of patriarch of the Greek Church no longer exists. 
Peter the Great abolished it, and made himself the head of the Church. The 
highest order of dignitaries are called the White Clergy. They are forbidden to 
marry ; and are said to be, in general, very distinguished for their learning and 
piety. The lower orders, or priests of parishes, are required to marry ; they are 
unlearned and brutal, and so esteemed by the mass of the people, who are very 
attentive to their religious duties ; the nobility are not so. When the wife of 
a priest dies, he is compelled to quit his parish, and betake himself to a monas- 
tery, where, if he has the inclination and ability, he may become eminent for 
his learning and piety, and be advanced to the distinction of the White Clergy. 
There is a proverb in Russia, applied to any subject of sedulous attention. 
It is " As well cared for as a parish priest's wife." 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 335 

The revenues of the church are very large, and so is its power over the peo- 
ple. The New Testument has been printed in Russian and Sclavonic ; the last 
edition is now exhausted, and the synod of the church has decided that no more 
shall be printed. It is said that the Bible Society of London has offered to 
furnish copies if they will permit them to be sold, but this offer has been reject- 
ed. The Emperor pays marked respect to the clergy. Yesterday he crossed 
the river (Neva) to visit the metropolitan bishop, to congratulate him on his 
birthday. "We were invited to go and see the exercises of the horse-guards and 
infantry, which were under cover, it being mid-winter. In the first place, in an 
immense building, were paraded several hundred of the Emperor's body-guard of 
cavalry— the best dressed men I had ever seen — black helmets, white coats 
very much stuffed in front, with a single row of buttons, striped with red on the 
lappets, which were very short, large gloves, sword-belt of black leather, trow- 
sers perfectly white, large Hessian boots and spurs ; the horses were not in the 
building. The men were formed in a hollow circle, and inspected by a general 
ofiicer who conversed with them out of the hearing of the company ofiicers, ask- 
ing them whether they received tbeir dues, and he did the same with the com- 
pany officers, an excellent system. We then went to the infantry drill — this 
was in a room one hundred and twenty-five feet broad, and nine hundred feet 
long, where there were said to be four thousand men in several ranks. Among 
them were about a dozen Circassians — five on horses in the costume of their 
country — armed with a short gun, and bows and arrows. The men and horses 
were under size. The Russian infantry went through their manual with the 
greatest precision. Their marcbing was faulty ; they did not wheel at all ia 
line, but at the turns became a confused mass. Their equipment was very 
well; there were with them two platoons of sailors. The term of service of 
the soldiers is very long. When they are discharged with a good character, are 
wounded, or have served out their time, they are placed by the government in 
civil positions of an inferior character ; watchmen, ferrymen, gate-keeper.<, gard- 
eners, &c. The government furnishes the flour, cloth, leather, and other raw 
materials, and men must be found in each regiment to make clothes, harness, 
bread, &c.; so that men, originally serfs, leave the army freedmen, and many 
having a trade. In St. Petersburg I saw a very large building appropriated 
to the storing of wheat and other grain for the food of man, which the Govern- 
ment provides and holds as a resource in case of scarcity. It was said that in 
the other departments the large land-holders were required to have like stores 
of food, to be used in like cases for the support of the serfs. 

Having observed that money was brought to us from our bankers by per- 
sons in the condition of porters, we found upon inquiry that they were common- 
ly trusted with large amounts, because they were of the " Artelchick,''' nn asso- 
ciation of the porters and runners of all the business men in St. Petersburg. 
In order to be received as a member of the association, it is necessary to have 
served an apprenticeship, and to have acquired a character for integrity, as the 



33G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

association is answerable for tlie fidelity of each " artel." Every one, on enter- 
ing tlie association, is required to deposit a small sum as his security, aud each 
one pays into the treasury the amount of "wages he receives, and his New Year's 
presents — this fund is annually divided among the members. I inquired with 
care, and leaimed from all quarters that the members of this association were 
most generally employed by men of business, and that they were not only faith- 
ful, but dexterous and industrious. 

MiiHsic is a term applied to all laborers and artisans about the city. They 
are all allowed, if they can put on a decent suit of clothes according to their 
condition in life, to visit the Imperial palace, and to see the Imperial family on 
New Year's day. They all wear the beard long. 

It appears to be a matter generally understood that all the people about 
the Court and Government are to receive from persons employed in doing any 
work for the Government a compensation or reward for what they consider 
their good offices. When I objected to this, it was observed by my friend Dr. 
Handyside, my informant, that it was like the case of your servant being paid 
by your baker and butcher, or the shopmen who served you — it was a thiug of 
course, and not to be considered like bribing the judges. 

The Police. — These are considered the greatest rascals on earth. One of 
the consequences of a despotic government is, that although the chief or head 
may be governed by principles, a regard for his reputation, and, in many cases, 
by the good of his people — the further you go down in the scale, the more 
oppressive, slavish, and brutal it becomes. Mr. G., our Consul General, told 
of a case he had heard of. A droskey-mau (hackman) charged him ten rubles 
fare, which was five times as much as the law allowed. G. went immediately to 
the police, and made a complaint of this attempt at extortion. The policemen 
asked G. to pay ten rubles, which he did, and the policeman took the hackman 
by the beard, and thrashed him well, and turned him off without any fee. 

A workman in Mr. Baird's factory had accumulated two hundred rubles 
which he kept in his chest ; this was stolen from him (this was last summer), and 
the poor fellow complained to the police. Officers were sent to the shop ; they 
called upon all the inmates of the dwelling house to give up their keys, which 
they did, and with them they tried the lock of the chest. Four keys were found 
to open it, and the owners of these keys were required to pay forty rubles each, 
and the informant twenty, all of which the police officers put into their pockets, 
and thus the matter ended ! All these workmen were serfs, and Jlr. Baird, 
who saw the transaction, said if the man's master had lived here, and they had 
complained to him, he might have obtained justice against the police, but being 
otherwise, it was impossible. The serf lost his two hundred rubles, and the 
twenty rubles he paid to obtain justice. Violent deaths by accident or murder 
are never made public; the police take cognizance of them, punishment may 
follow, but the public know nothing further of the matter. 

The punishment of death is abolished ; and perpetual banishment to Siberia 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 337 

and working in the mines, substituted for heinous offenoes. Periodically 
droves of men and women, well guarded, may be seen going to their destined 
abode until death. For lesser oflFences, imprisonment and the knout are the 
usual punishments — the last is a degrading punishment with the lash. The 
condemned are confined, and brought out from day to day, to be punislied, and 
most usually on the Sabbath. For a fee to the executioner, the infliction of the 
punishment may be seen. The convict will be brought out, his back naked — 
tied up to a post around which his arms are stretched and tied. The instru- 
ment is a long whip, the handle of hickory or other pliable wood, the thong of 
leather hardened at the end by fine or twisted wire. The executioner stands off 
some six or eight feet, but just far enough to strike the naked body with the 
end of the lash, which is so sharply struck and jerked back, as by every blow to 
wound the skin and flesh. The pain is excessive, and this punishment is repeated 
from time to time, until the sentence of the court is satisfied. 

The Secret Police. — Prince ****** to whom I bad a letter of introduc- 
tion, and who treated me with much civility, is the head of this department. 
He has unlimited power, and is said to exercise it with great efiiciency, propri- 
ety, and delicacy. For instance, if a foreigner talks of matters which are con- 
sidered dangerous to the peace of the empire in public places he is sometimes 
cautioned, and if he persists, he is ordered immediately out of the empire, and 
sometimes (as was the case with the Jesuits) is taken out of his bed at mid- 
night, without noise, by the minister of the police, conveyed to the frontier, and 
there permitted to go at large, under orders never to return. If a Russian 
subject is considered troublesome (they all belong to the army, although not in 
active service) he is sent to serve in the Caucasus, where there is very little 
likelihood of his being troublesome, or of his ever returning. The Caucasians 
are sharp-shooters, and are carrying on a successful guerilla war at great 
expense to Russia, in men and money. Hitherto, Russia has been frequently 
foiled. 

We read every day the Journal de St. Pciershnrg. It is the oSicial 
paper, printed in French, under the censorship of Count Nesselrode, Minister 
of Foreign Affairs. During all the time we have been here that war has been 
waging, but it is never noticed in any way in this paper. I met Captain 

S 1, a British oSicer, who had been sent by his government to learn the 

condition of that contest. He informed me that although the Russian army 
made advances into the country, they did not make conquests of any value; 
the people retired as their enemy advanced, but returned in the rear to cut off 
supplies. He stated, as a fact of his own knowledge, that, in order to send 
home despatches, the commanding general was compelled to send with the mes- 
senger a squadron of cavalry to guard him to the Russian frontier. 

An incident in regard to their secret police. I met Prince * * the 

head of that police, at the royal ball, who, after the ordinary civilities, said, 
" Col. Hamilton, I wish to ask a favor of you." Hamilton—" I am gratified to 
22 



338 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

learn that I can serve you in any way ; please to let me know bow." Answer — 
" You will do me a favor if you will not permit persons who come to your 
rooms to speak disparagingly of this government, nor to participate yourself in 
such conversations. A gentleman from Holland visited you two days ago, who 
probably left Russia the next day." I said, " Let me understand more of 
this." He said, " I can go no further than to say that, with any other foreign 
gentleman, it would have been my duty to have sent officers of the police to 
take him to the frontier of the empire." I thanked him for his forbearance. 
He then walked around with me, pointed out the distinguished persons, and 
amonjr others Prince Menschikoff. 

The following statement will explain what was reserved by the chief of 
police : 

Mr. Huygens, the son of Chevalier Huygens, who entertained us at Copen- 
hafen, and whom I well knew in America, was on a visit to St. Petersburg. 
His father gave me a letter to him. He called to see me, and passed some 
time conversing with me. I was confined to the house several days by indis- 
position. He indulged in some very severe criticisms upon the Emperor and 
his government. I rose while he was talking and closed the door of a passage- 
way between the parlor and my bed-room, where our valet de 'place usually sat. 
Huygens seeing me do this, asked, " Why did you shut that door?" I said, 
" The valet usually sits there." " Is he there now ? " " Yes, he is." Huygens 
got up immediately to take leave, I had not given him the letter, and desired 
him to stay until I went to my room to get it. He said, " No ! please send it 
to our Minister ; I must be ofi"." The next day I went to the Minister with the 
letter ; asked where I could find young Huygens ; " I have a letter for him.'' 
The answer was, " He went on his way to Holland this morning in great haste." 
■Our valet was undoubtedly a spy of the secret police, and had reported the con- 
Tcrsation to headquarters. 

In this connection I quote from my note-book to show that this despotic 
government is not an unmitigated evil. I have stated that one of the great 
fruiterers of St. Petersburg was a serf. The governor of the city was a 
rouo-h, but a good old soldier, and was appointed to that office as a reward for 
gallant services. There was a countess in the city who was what would be 
called in New York a fast woman. She had issued invitations for a party, and 
sent an order to this fruiterer for a large supply of expensive fruits for her 
party ; she was already indebted for fruit in the sum of three thousand rubles. 
The fruiterer refused to give her any more fruit until her debt to him was 
paid ; the countess complained to the governor, who immediately sent a message 
to the serf to supply the fruit. He did not do so, and the governor sent an 
officer to close his shop, arrest him, and put him into jail ; this was done. On 
the evening of the next day, there was an informal reception at the palace — 
young and old. This event was the subject of conversation by the young men 
who treated as a good joke the influence of the handsome countess over the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 339 

rough soldier, and it was more than intimated that there was a love affair 
between them. The atrocity of his conduct did not seem to strike tliem. 
The owner of the serf, Count Cheremitiff, was announced. When he came 
into the room, his acquaintances ran up to him to inform him of what had been 
done to his serf. He had heard of it, and came to see the Emperor on the sub- 
ject, who was not in the saloon. The Prince, after he had made his obeisance 
to the Empress, asked if he could see his Majesty. She sent one of the attaches 
to the Emperor, who desired the Prince to come to him. When this was done, 
her Majesty beckoned to an American gentleman who was present, to come to 
her. He did so. She asked him if he understood the conversations of the 
young men. He replied that he did. She said, " That gentleman who has gone 
to the Emperor is the owner of the serf who has been so wretchedly treated, and 
now you will see the working of this ' imperial despotism.' " Ere long, the Em- 
peror came into the room, attended by the Prince and others. Her Majesty 
went up to her husband and asked him what had been done. He replied, " An 
order has been sent to the governor to release the fruiterer immediately, to place 
him in his shop, and to give notice to the countess, that if her debt to the fruit- 
erer is not paid in twenty-four hours, she must be put in jail." Shortly after 
her Majesty had heard this, she sent for her American guest, told him what had 
been done, and said, " Could such exact and speedy justice have been done in 
America? " He said, " No ! it would have been a long and expensive process 
to have arrived at all these results." Her Majesty said, " Well, I am pleased 
that you have had an opportunity to learn that we live under a government 
where the rights of the lowest order of persons are vindicated, and the highest 
are compelled to do justice promptly." 

The Organization of the Government. — There is a council of State having a 
President and a Secretary, and composed of high officers. They must discuss 
measures, and make reports to the Emperor, through their Secretary, and the 
Emperor decides ultimately on their reports. The opinions and votes of the 
different members are stated. < This council does not initiate. There is the 
council of Ministers or heads of departments — a sort of special committee, they 
make reports on matters respecting their respective departments to the Em- 
peror, who receives each member with his port-folio, on one or two particular 
days of the week. The Senate enrolls the ukases (decrees) of the Emperor, 
and is a sort of judicature in the last resort. 

During Alexander's reign, an attempt was made to change the form of gov- 
ernment by the Council of State. They proposed to the Emperor that before 
an edict (ukase) should be issued, it should be submitted to the Council, and 
become a law when approved by them. He replied, " Well ! you desire to re- 
tain your peasants ? " That intimation ended the matter ; they found it would 
not do. 

The popidation of Russia. — By the tenth census of the people of the Empire 
of Russia, the total of the population under the sceptre of the Czar amounts to 
63,931,728 souls. 



340 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

There are primary schools in tlie villages, kept by the parish priests, and 
there are public schools for the children of the nobility, to ■which they may go, 
but they are not compelled to send their children. There they can receive a 
good education, such as will fit them for the army, the navy, and civil, naval 
and military engineering. The boys are taught that their highest duty is, to 
love and obey the Emperor. This was represented to me as a great source of 
power. 

The Emperor. — Among the gossips, it is said, Nicholas was not the son of 
Paul, but of a Kussiaa nobleman who died two months ago. There was, it is 
said, a very strong likeness. I am told that her Majesty was not sans rcproche. 
There is not such evidence, however, as to induce a belief. Nicholas is certainly 
a man of much higher order than any of his family. Paul was a madman. The 
stories of his mad pranks are numerous and amusing. His acts of tyranny 
"Were so extreme and general that his friends found it necessary to destroy him 
— he was strangled in his own chamber. 

TJie money of Russia. — The coin of Russia is of two denominations, kopecks 
and rubles. The kopeck is a copper coin of the denomination of one, five, ten 
and fifteen. A kopeck is the one hundredth part of a ruble. A silver ruble is 
worth seventy-five cents of our money. A paper ruble is worth twenty-five. 
It varies — three and a half paper being equal commonly to one of silver. The 
paper rubles were issued in the time of Catharine ; the par was seventy-five ko- 
pecks, they having depreciated. This currency is issued by the government bank. 
The business of this bank is to receive on deposit the public revenue, to issue 
and pay out for public expenses. 

The revenues of the Empire result from salt, sales of liquor, capitation tax 
(which is from fifteen to twenty-seven rubles upon every male born in the Em- 
pire), from import duties, which are very high (indeed, in order to encourage 
their own manufacturers they are essentially prohibitory), from privileges to 
travel, payments to belong to a guild, taxes on passports, a tax of ten per centum 
upon all sales of real estate, from very high stamp duties and from gold mines. 

The gold mines in Russia are in the Ural Mountains in the heart of Siberia. 
There are immense alluvials at the foot of the Ural Mountains, and in the valleys 
of the more elevated chains of the Altai Mountains. Gold is there in its native 
state, disseminated in small quantities in sand and graveh The zone where it 
is found, has a diameter of a little more than nine hundred kilometres or half 
a mile, and in length several thousand kilometres. We learn from Herodotus, 
that they were worked by the ancients, but they were lost sight of until the 
year 1823, when they were re-discovered by accident. Since then, they have 
been regularly worked by the crown, and by individuals. Those belonging to 
the Government, are worked for its sole benefit bv criminals sentenced to con- 
finement in Siberia, Those worked on private account, pay a tax, being a per 
centage of the amounts worked out of the mines. In St. Petersburg, there is 
a cabinet where large amounts of gold in bars are stored. It is shown to strang- 
ers, by permission of an officer of the Government. 



REMINISCE/ S OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 341 

In 1845, tlie product, according to an official statement was 18,803 kilo- 
grammes. Allowing for what passes off clandestinely to avoid the payment of 
duty, the product of that year may be stated at 22,564 kilogrammes, equal to 
'$15,540,000. A kilogramme consequently represents about $600. In 1846, 
about 30,000 kilogrammes, or $18,000,000, which is about the quantity throwu 
into the market from other sources. 

Salt is produced by evaporation from lakes in the Crimea, in Bessarabia, 
and elsewhere. In 1840, the salt of the crown from the lakes and the boilers 
amounted to twenty-six millions of ponds (a pond is thirty-six pounds), and that 
made for individuals, five millions. Salt from the lakes costs the crown *- to 
5 kopecks silver, or two to seven and a half kopecks per pond, and by evapora- 
tion, six to fifty kopecks silver, per pond. In 1840, the crown sold 22,070,738 
ponds for over twenty-four millions rubles. The net receipts in the treasury by 
that operation amounted to fourteen and one half million rubles. The mean 
amount sold for interior consumption is twenty-five million ponds, or eight 
hundred and seventy-five millions of pounds. 

The revenues from the private property of the Emperor and his family are 
enormous, but whether his living is supplied thereby, or by a civil list, I could 
not understand. 

The expenses of the Government are enormous. It is said, the army costs 
a million rubles a day. The pensions are very unimportant. 

December 6-8. Tlie Presentation. — We went with Col. Todd, the American 
Minister, who arrived late. The Emperor and family had gone to the church with 
the Court and all his attending officers. When we came into the throne-room we 
were arranged with others (there were many to be presented), in a semi-circle ; 
our Minister was placed near the]other diplomats, on the left, and Schuyler and I 
iu the least important place. Shortly, all the officers with the females of the 
Court, in their splendid attire, in passing through the room went in review be- 
fore us ; the Emperor and Empress went to the throne, and the family were 
near them. Their majesties bowed, and those who were in the circle, to be pre- 
sented, bowed iu return. The Emperor, attended by a chamberlain, commenced 
on the left of the circle, whore the diplomats were, and addressed the British 
Ambassador ; thence he went to the next person, who was presented by name by 
the chamberlain, and thus, bowing to each person in turn. The Empress fol- 
lowed his Myjesty, having a page to hold up her train. Each person was pre- 
sented to her by name, and she presented the back of her hand to be kissed by 
each person in turn. The following story was told to me in relation to the presen- 
tation of John Randolph, who was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia 
by President Jackson. When he was presented to the Empress, and she put 
out her hand, he went down on his knee, and having on tight gauntlets, ho was 
for some time in that position, tugging at the one on his right hand in order to 
take her Majesty's hand and kiss it, it being contrary to etiquette to touch the 
lady's bare hand with a gloved hand. This took him so long, that her Majesty 



342 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

smiled, and the courtiers laughed out. Randolph soon took his leave, and left 
Russia. 

When the Emperor got through he went off, and the Empress did the same, 
"bowing as she went out, and the courtiers followed. AYe, and those who had 
not been presented before, remained, and were subsequently presented to the 
Grand Duchess, in the gold-room, and afterwards to the Grand Duke, now the 
Emperor Alexander, in his private room. 

We were iovited by the Prime Minister through our Minister, to a ball at 
the palace, on the 7-19 December. We went with Col. Todd. The entrance 
was by a most magnificent stone staircase, which brought us to the second 
story ; thence we went through various rooms, led by a page, until we came to the 
ball-room, and were placed near the door of entrance with the diplomatic corps. 
After a while, this door was thrown open, and their majesties, attended by the 
family and suite entered. The costumes, male and female, were magnificent. 
His majesty wore a red coat, plain gold epaulettes ; a brilliant star of precious 
stones, a broad green ribbon over the left shoulder, black stock very tight fit- 
tino', white cassimere trowsers, and large hussar boots. His coat was single- 
breasted and much stuffed. His walk was stately, but his manner was affable. 
The dress of the Empress was white, and her jewels were splendid. There 
were various rooms open — tea and coffee at command. 

In the course of the evening her Majesty the Empress took the arm of her 
married daughter, and walking across the room to where I stood, bowed to me. 
I immediately advanced a few paces to where she stood. She said : " Col. 
Hamilton, you were presented yesterday ? " " Yes, your Majesty, I had that 
honor." "Have you passed your time agreeably in St. Petersburg?" (this 
■was all in French,) I ventured to say, " I believe your Majesty speaks Eng- 
lish ; if you will allow me, T will reply to you in English." She said, " Cer- 
tainly. You know I was a German Princess, and I learned the Russian lan- 
guage, and if you can learn that, you may learn any thing ; however, it is not as 
harsh as it no doubt seems to your ear when it is spoken in the streets." She 
then repeated a few lines of poetry in Russian. I, of course, assented. She 
then asked me, " Are you gratified by your visit here ? " I replied, " I am 
deeply interested in what I learn of the people and government, and am 
very much gratified by one evidence of the regard of the people for their Em- 
peror, and of his confidence in their loyalty." " What do you refer to ? " "I 
have seen his Majesty going about on foot, and in his open carriage, unattend- 
ed by guards or servants, unlike any other Sovereign in Europe. The Magis- 
trate of a despotic government mingling with his people, as does our President, 
with a mere semblance of power, is interesting." She then said, " Have you 
seen my children ? " "I was presented to the Prince Imperial and his wife." 
" You must come to the palace in the evening, and see our domestic life. When 
you come, direct the person at the door to take your card, and deliver it to me; 
if there is not a ceremonial, you will be conducted up and presented to me." I 
thanked her for this condescension. She bowed most courteously, and retired. 



REMINISCENCES OE JAMES A. HAMILTON. 343 

This act of attention by her Majesty, made me so much an object of remark 
that the persons I approached, in returning to where I stood before, opened the 
way for uio, and I heard " Anierikanskey " repeated again and again. To get 
away from the observation, I walked to the dancers, where I came upon the 
quadrille in which the Prince was dancing. He saluted me, the dance was 
stopped, and we conversed together. 

The supper tables were prepared for twelve hundred guests. There was a 
round centre table, at which the Royal family and the high officers of the gov- 
ernment sat. 




In the centre of the round table there was an orange tree with blossoms and 
fruit. As these were at the long tables, about that in the centre, there was a 
circle of tulips rising up gradually. In the gallery a band of music, with wind 
instruments, discoursed soft, sweet airs. The Imperial Tokay was handed 
around, and as I was placed with Mr. Todd at the head of the long centre 
table, a bottle came as far as that table, and I got a glass. The attendants 
were expert, pi'ompt, and noiseless. The dishes were placed on the table when 
we sat down, then removed to another part of the room, cut and put on plates, 
and handed around. The wines, with glasses, were brought in on silver trays, 
and thus the guests took such of several kinds as they liked. After supper the 
guests marched back to the ball-room, when the Polonaise was walked. Count 
Orloff was much with the Emperor. He was said to be his favorite. We were 
afterward presented to the Grand Duke Michael, and invited by Count "War- 
ronsow to a ball given by tlie nobility. 

To my good friend. Dr. Handyside (whose wife and a lady friend called to 
see how I was taken care of, when I was confined to the house by illness), I 
was indebted not only for his valuable professional services but several other 
advantages. He took me through the hospital. It was well arranged as to 
light, warmth, and ventilation. The patients were numerous, but perfectly 
well cared for. I was admonished not to go through the ward in which were 
many patients having the consumption, because that disease was believed to be 
catching. I learned that the faculty had made all imaginable experiments with 
their cholera patients, and that the people taking it into their heads that the 
disease was occasioned by poison in the water, they were disposed to treat all 
persons who wore camphor bags around their necks as the poisoners. This went 
so far as to amount almost to a riot. I was advised when convalescent, to take 
the vapor bath, aud the doctor went with me to the bath-house. It was a larg& 



344 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

room, with steps in a semi-circle, rising-as an ampLitlioatre to within seven feet of 
the ceiling. The doctor left me, admonishing me not to go very high, as the 
steam would be too hot for me, although the Russians, being accustomed to the 
heat, went up to the highest platform. In this large hall there was an oven, 
into which stones were placed. The fire being made, and circulating between 
these stones, they became very hot, and upon them water was thrown by a man, 
who came in from time to time for that purpose. This went off in steam, which 
filled the whole room, and the upper part soon became very hot. The natives 
havinf enjoyed the hot bath as long as they will, rush down to a closet in which 
they sit and take a cold shower-bath. There are similar baths provided for the 
people by the government, who rush into the snow. This is, I suppose, a prac- 
tice which must kill or cure. I was told that the baths for the females were 
furnished with steam by the same agency in all respects. 

It is said that in the time of Catharine, the men and women took their 
baths at the same time, and in the same rooms. I saw nothing in the inter- 
course of the sexes which was at all exceptionable. 

A winter amusement of which the Russians, male and female, and of all 
classes, are desperately fond, is the Russian Mountain. Societies are formed 
for the purpose of building the mountain, and providing the accessories. In 
vacant places in the city, well-fenced, and with convenient apartments where the 
members and invited guests assemble, a strong frame of wood is erected within 
which there is a circular stairs to get to the platform at the top. From that 
platform a steep inclined plane is carried down to the ground and out as far as 
is necessary, forming a line with the upright stretch and forming an angle and 
extending according to the length of the lot or the wishes of the participants. 
On this plane, which is about three feet wide, there are strong sides about a foot 
high, reaching from one end to the other, and between these sides cakes of ice 
are laid and water is thrown upon it, which by freezing fastens the cakes together 
and makes the whole surface as smooth as glass. The sleds are made of a 
proper width — less of course than the sides — and long enough to hold two per- 
sons. A gentleman sits behind and a lady before him; one of his arms is about 
her waist, and the other directs the sled by moving the hand. The rapidity is 
little less, than falling through the air. The excitement is extreme and most 
pleasing, as is always the excitement of rapid motion. The sleds are hauled up 
to their places, and the parties take their turns to go down. The women seem 
to be very anxious to ride. On the Neva, the public authorities build a moun- 
tain for the people which is not so rapid but much larger. 

The fat cattle are driven from the southern and more fertile country to- 
wards St. Petersburg in the winter (I was there only during that season) ; they 
are driven sometimes (depending upon the state of the cold) not nearer than 
one hundred and fifty miles, vrhere they arc slaughtered and dressed, and from 
thence conveyed to the city on sleds. I saw great masses of frozen quarters of 
beef piled up in public squares where the butchers go to purchase. They can- 
not be injured by the weather. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 345 

Having accomplished what we came for, in obedience to law we advertised 
our intended departure for ten days — took places in the public stages for a 
particular day. We sought our passports in the usual form. The Governor 
refused to let us have them, until we provided for some of the sailors who came 
out in the ship, and would not return, preferring to remain at Croustadt, when 
we offered to pay their passages to America. We called upon our Consul, Mr. 
Gibson, stated what had been done, and further, that as these men came out to 
navigate the ship for the Emperor, we were not called upon to provide for their 
return. Mr. Gibson soon put the matter right, and obtained our passports, but 
too late for the stage for which we were booked, and had paid. All this, how- 
ever, proved to be the greatest good fortune, far, hearing of our difficulties. 
Captain Wright, formerly of the British Army, with whom we were acquainted, 
very kindly offered to take us with him. We not only thus enjoyed the society 
of a right good fellow who spoke the language, but went directly through — he 
having, as is usual, an order from the Government to the post-horse providers 
along the road to furnish him with horses without dL'lay. So imperative was 
the order, as the Captain told us, that if the horses of the post were out the 
others were to be obtained from the stables of any person in the neighborhood. 

We left St. Petersburg with him on the 28th December at half-past nine 
p. m., and travelled continuously (except part of a night we were detained by the 
ice on the river opposite to Tilsit) during eight nights and seven days, stopping 
only to change horses and get our meals. At one breakfast, in Russia, we 
were called to the table before Wright came in. For our breakfast there was 
the usual coffee, milk, bread and butter, and, in addition, a dish of dark-colored 
meat which was presented as beef I cut a piece off it, began to eat, found it 
tasteless, dry and tough. As soon as Wright came in to the table he said '■ Stop ! 
Colonel, that is horse-meat," and berated the woman for daring to put such stuff 
on her table. She then produced some game birds, which were cold, and very 
good. 

At about midnight, we came to the north bank of the river. Being unable 
to get over, we were shown into a back room in which was a stove, where Ave 
could sit until morning. To get to that room we passed through a large pas- 
sage-way, the floors of which were covered with the bodies of sleeping men and 
women, in their clothes, their heads to each wall and their feet extending out so 
far as to leave a passage-way of about two feet wide. That was the coldest 
night I had felt— the thermometer (Reaumur's) was thirteen degrees below 
zero, equal to about twenty-eight of Fahrenheit. I found that sleeping on my 
hand, my elbow, which pressed against the curtains of the carriage, was frozen. 

As Captain Wright had previously promised to a German gentleman a place ni 
his carriage as far as Tilsit, we purchased a Tallago with four wheels, four scats 
with a cloth covering— cost thirty dollars. At the dawn of day, leaving our oar- 
riai-es we took ourluo-gage, and crossed in a row-boat to Tilsit, where the Captain 
got a carriage with seats for three persons. After breakfast, the keeper ot luo 



346 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

house caniG in, and inquired wliat he should do with our Tallago. I promptly 
answered, " Sell it for what you can get for it, and give the money to the poor." 
He hesitated, as if he did not understand. Wright repeated what I had said. 
The man then asked " And to whom am I to say we are indebted for this kind- 
ness ? " Answer : " To an American gentleman !" " But the name ! " " No 
name." Some years afterwards I saw Captain Wright in New York. I think 
he took home the Ti-eaty of Washington negotiated by Lord Ashburton. He 
told me he had been asked by divers people in Tilsit for the name of the Amer- 
ican gentleman. The secret excited much curiosity and speculation. 

We arrived at Berlin early on January 4th, having travelled eight nights 
and seven days. 

So much for Russia. I have written down here all that I had noted of this 
very interesting jouimey. I must say that I found the Ptussians the most civil 
and obliging people I ever met with. 

The present Emperor Alexander had just married. He has performed suc- 
cessfully the great and glorious work his father wished to do; but could not — 
the emancipation of twenty-three millions of people. 

Berlin. — 1 here met Dr. Julius, a friend whom I had well known in America, 
a man of great knowledge and intelligence. He gave me much useful informa- 
tion. The people of 'Prussia are, generally, so far educated as to be able to 
read and write. Indeed, I was convinced, from what I learned, that the educa- 
tion of the people there, is as general as it is in the State of Connecticut, 
where all the native-born read and write. The misfortune of the Prussians is, 
there are no cheap newspapers, or literature ; at least, this was the case in 1842. 
They were like the mechanic who had tools, and knew how to use them, but 
had no materials to work upon. The Doctor took me to see the Winter 
Garden, an establishment I have long wished might be introduced into New 
York. I was there in mid-winter. All classes of people are admitted, for the 
smallest copper coin. It is extensive and well covered. I there saw whole 
families, mothers at their knitting or sewing, their little ones playing about 
them ; young men and women walking about and sitting under trees and bowers ; 
nothincf is furnished to eat or drink — at intervals a band of music would come 
into the orchestra, a place raised from the floor with seats and desks for music, 
and lights. As soon as the horn announced the presence of the band, all 
persons would rush to the front to enjoy the music, and when the pieces were 
ended they would disperse. This place was warmed and lighted from four in 
the afternoon until ten o'clock at night, and thus these people, old and young, 
male and female, were saved the necessity of having lights or fires at their homes. 
The old and young enjoyed each other's society without expense, and all were 
gratified by exquisite music, and thus they were refined in their tastes. Music 
and painting must have that effect ; particularly upon the younger and less 
improved classes. 

In New York, the young men seek the drinking places, other dens of vice, 
or are driven to walk with their female companions in the common streets. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON, 347 

The wheat of Prussia and the continent is not so good as that of America, 
because it is exposed to too much wet weather; it is, therefore, not so flinty. 

I visited the distinguished Humboldt, a very aged and infirm man. His 
conversation turned upon the United States. I told him I had one of his 
letters, addressed to my father Alexander Hamilton. He said, " Yes, I Imew 
him well, by reputation; and it has been a subject of deep interest to me to 
know how his system of finance adapted to the condition of the country with 
three millions of people, should have the capacity to conduct the business of a 
country five or sis times that number, and so vastly extended. " 

The population of Prussia is said to be so numerous already (1812) that 
measures are taken by Government to repress its increase. Among others, it 
is forbidden to young people to marry unless there is a vacant house, within 
their parish, which they can obtain to inhabit. (See Lane's Travels, on this 
subject). The people of all ranks must belong to the army for six years. 

London, 1842. — Having learned that upon the death of her husband, his 
widow. Lady Holland, was living in her own home (if I recollect right, in South 
Audley street), the first visit I made was to her; in acknowledgment of the 
kindness and attentions I had received from her husband. The next visit was 
to my dear friend Samuel Rogers. He was pleased to see me, engaged me to 
breakfast next morning, and before I left intimated a wish that I should call 
upon Lady Holland. I said I had made that my first visit. He replied, " I 
am glad of it; she gives next week a trial dinner to which you will be invited." 
" What do you mean by a trial dinner ? " " To ascertain whether the distin- 
guished people you used to meet at Holland House dining with her husband, 
will dine with her." 

I was invited, I have no doubt upon his suggestion, and that such was his 
purpose when he said " You will be invited." I went to the dinner. The 
guests were numerous. Most of them I had met before. Sydney Smith was 
overflowing with anecdote and wit. Lord Palraerston had married — his wife 
was there. When the dinner was nearly ended, the table being in a roar of 
laughter from Smith's wit and anecdotes, her Ladyship cried out, " Stop, 
Sydney, do stop, you will kill us." This being done, she called out to me 
sitting the length of the table from her, " Col, Hamilton." " Your Ladyship I " 
" I have heard of an incident connected with the battle of New Orleans given 
to you by G-eneral Jackson, will you do me the very great favor to repeat it to 
our friends here ? " I had been impressed by what I had myself seen, and 
heard from Fenimore Cooper, that she sometimes took occasion to put her 
American guests in an awkward position, — the idea of an American talkmg 
about the lattU of New Orleans at an English dinner-table ! However, I deter- 
mined to make the statement as palatable as possible; and I rcplicil, " I wdl 
with pleasure relate what you refer to, stated to mc by General Jackson on the 
battle-field." One of his guns (a thirty-two pounder) was commamh-d by a 
Barrataria pirate who was a skilled artillerist. He had been tried, found 



348 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

guilty, and sentenced to bo hanged ; and Jackson, Avheu lie gave him the com- 
mand of the gun, promised him his pardon if he performed his duty well. 
When the enemy advanced to assault his works, (in part formed of cotton bags) 
this gun being loaded with grape and canister when fired swept through their 
columns making a wide gap ; which was filled up instantly by the British 
soldiers. This gun was fired with great accuracy and rapidity, and the gaps 
were each time filled up without hesitation. I never saw sucb dogged courage 
in mv life. Nothing could exceed the advance to certain death. At length, 
from mere exhaustion, there was a moment's hesitation, and then I said, ' By 
God, I have them ! ' No men could face death longer than these men did." 
When I had closed, her ladyship rose and said, " Col. Hamilton, I thank you 
with all my heart." Mr. Howard, a member of the distinguished family of the 
Howards, introduced himself to me to shake hands. Lieut.-General Grant came 
to mc, was introduced to me, and said, " I was in that battle, and now thank you 
for this tribute to the bravery of our gallant soldiers. Please give me your 
address." The company shortly rose and went to the drawing-room. Lady 
Holland called me to her; and presented me to Lady Palmerstou, who, when 
I was about to take my leave, said " I shall be pleased to see you at my home 
on * * * evening next. I will send you a written invitation." This 
was done. 

During my stay in the great city, I breakfasted with Rogers again and 
again. On one occasion, Thomas Moore, the poet, being present, the ques- 
tion was put to me as to my father's having written most of Washington's 
public papers. I replied, " I can only say, I have indisputable evidence that 
he wrote the Farewell Address." Moore, as appears by his diary published by 
Earl Russell, put down the whole conversation of that breakfast, and exag- 
gerates what I did say, by quoting me as saying my father wrote all Washing- 
ton's public papers. 

James A. Hamilton to Lord Brougham. 

"March 3, 1842. 
" I accept, my dear friend, withi great pleasure the works which you have been 
so good as to present to me. 

"Although I have inherited from my father nothing but his ilhistrious name, it 
would aftord me extreme pleasure to liear the discussion to which you refer. I am 
engaged to dine with Bulwer at half-past six o'clock, which will, I fear, deprive me 
of that pleasure. 

" I liave the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your Lordship's most obedient servant, &c." 

I went to the House of Lords. Lord Brougham's card gave me the entrance 
and a seat at the foot of the throne. The discussion was interesting. 

Lord Brougham was very civil and attentive to me, as he had been on a 
former visit to London. We were invited to dine with Sir Fleetwood Pillow. 
There were among other guests, an Under Secretary of State by the name of 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 349 

Hamilton, and another who had held that office, and who, upon loavln" it, was 
knighted. The conversation on the part of these gentlemen was very in- 
teresting, relating to the course of business in their particular department, 
and the characters and habits of their chiefs. It was understood that Under 
Secretaries were to continue in office for a long period, and tlius to con. 
vey to each chief in succession, upon a change of ministry, the traditional as 
well as actual condition of the business of the department. Talking to Lady 
Pillow, I found she was the sister of Lady Holland ; had heard of my being 
at the " trial dinner," and of my success in the account I had given of the battle 
of New Orleans. Lady Pillow was going that evening to the party at Lord 
Palmerston's. I told her I was going also. Walking about the room she took 
my arm, pointed out the distinguished people, and introduced nie to some of 
her acquaintances. At leno-th, while talking to her, I saw coming into the 
room alone a lady in a rich black dress, with beautiful black hair plainly 
dressed, and I directly asked who that beautiful woman was. She said, " Don't 
you know her ? that is the Honorable Mrs. Norton ; shall I present you to 
her ? " " Certainly." She did so, and thus I became acquainted with that 
very talented and much injured woman. Our conversation (standing together 
where I was presented) was animated and interesting. I asked if she was 
writing anything. She said, " No ! I am in chancery." " What do you 
mean ? "I am endeavoring to induce the Chancellor to allow me to have ray 
children (two boys) with me at all times, that I may direct their education. 
At present they only come to me for an hour or two on particular days." 
" Allow me to say, madame, I have a remedy for that. I think you said you 
wished to go to the United States." " I intend to do so." " I am to sail next 
week from Liverpool ; I care nothing for your Lord Chancellor. The day be- 
fore, when your boys are with you, I will come to your door, take them in my 
carriage, post to Liverpool, go on board ship, and you can follow them as soon 
as you please." This badinage excited and pleased her. She remarked, '' We 
had better take seats, we are much observed." We did so, and continued our 
chat until I observed General Fox, Admiral Napier, and other gentlemen look- 
ing on, and anxious, as I supposed, to join her ; fearing to intrude, I asked her 
address, whicb she gave me, and I retired. 

Moving about to see the magnates. Lord Palmerston joined me, saying, '■ I 
presume, seeing all these gentlemen in their fine toggery, (that is the Duke of 
Wellington, whom you see there with all his orders,) is new to you? " I said I 
bad seen much of all that in Russia and other parts of the continent, but not m 
England. " I will explain to you. The Speaker of the House of Commons 
receives once a month ; the members of Parliament and other distinguislicd 
officers of the government, consider it their duty to pay their respects to tlic 
Speaker as the representative of the Commons House, and etiquette rcqun-es 
them to dress in as full costume as they would when presented to the Queen." 
He then gave me the names of some of the distinguished persons we met, and 
presented me to Lady Palmerston. 



350 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

I bad the pleasure to see Mrs, Norton at ber own bouse ; sbe called at my 
hotel and left for me a copy of several of ber works, and among them : 

"A plain letter to the Lord Chancellor, on the Infant Custody Bill ; by Pierce 
Stevenson, Esquire." (Note on my copy in her handwriiing) " Was written by Caroline 
L. Norton,— a name adopter"", a'* I feared if they knew it was a woman's writing, it w^ould 
have bad no weight. Dated Decembtr 15, 1838, printed fur distribution to mem- 
bers of Parliament— not published." 

This lady, the granddaughter of the illustrious Sheridan, was distinguished 
for her talents and beauty. Her figure was commanding, her hair was soft and 
jet black, her countenance very expressive, her manners easy and in all respects 
correct. No woman was so wickedly traduced as sbe was, and without cause. 
She was separated from her husband, who held some place in the police of 
London. 

James A. Hamilton to President Fillmore. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., April 29, 1843. 

" SiB : I have the honor to inform you, that when I was in London, about a month 
ago, I was presented to Lord Aberdeen, ber Majestj's Minister of Foreign Aflairs, 
who souglit an opportunity to converse with me in relation to tlie affairs of our 
respective countries, in which be manifested the strongest interest,— I may say 
solicitude— that the points of ditference should be adjusted in such a way as to pre- 
serve the peace. As to the Eastern boundary line, be jdainly intimated that if the 
difference could be settled by purchase, they were ready to pursue that course, and 
in regard to all the subjects of difference, after inquiries as to the disposition on our 
part he said, " Well, although there may be great difficulties yet, to use a homely 
phrase, where there is a will there is a way." 

"Afterwards, at dinner with the Lord Chancellor, he spoke tome of the Eastern 
boundary question, wishing to know if we were willing to settle it? I replied we 
were; that it was too clear under the treaty of 1783 to raise an argument, as bis 
lordship well knew. He replied, (without admitting that point) he would ask 
whetlier I tliougbt our government would sell the country? I replied that with 
the assent of the States interested, we probably would. He then said ' Well, would 
half a million purchase it?' I replied be bad better say a million. 'Oh! no!' he 
replied, 'I understand tlie country is very barren and worthless.' 'Yes,' said I, 'but 
it is very valuable and iudi-pensable to yon, and you, my Lord, well know— having 
been ba-n in Massachusetts — that we are pretty sharp in a bargain.' 

"I have thought it my duty to communicate these ccmversationsto yon for what 
they are worth. They produced on my mind a very distinct impression that they 
were prepared to pay the sura named, or more, if necessary, and to do whatever 
justice miglit seem to demand, in order to settle all the other points in controversy. 
On the other hand, I was satisfied from the language of Louis Philippe, that if there 
should be war between the United States and England, the French nation would be 
forced into it on our side ; and that to avoid such a calamity, the King of the French 
would most gladly arbitrate between us. 

"I have the honor to be, with very great respect, 

"Your most obedient servant, «S:c." 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 351 



"William H. Seward to James A. Hamilton. 

" AiBAi^T, June 8, 1842. 

" Dear Sir : Your letter of the 1st instant was duly received and read with grat- 
itude and sincere x^leasure. It has been an occasion of much regret, that important 
public interests have sutfered in consequence of the difference existing between the 
branches of the appointing power. "What you describe as having hnppened in 
"Westchester County, has occurred, if I am rightly informed, in several other counties. 
I fear that there will be losses of the United States deposit fund, in consequence of a 
failure to make appointments of Commissioners. 

" The consequences of the falling back of the Whig party at the last election in 
tbis State, are mortifying indeed. The State, rich and powerful, and in the fruition 
of advantages of the enlightened policy hitherto pui-sued, has given way under a 
panic, and is submitting to losses and vacancies on every side. If ever a party acted 
without consideration of public interests, our opponents did so during the last 
session v{ thp Legislature, and they are now proving what we all know very well 
"a priori," that they cannot correct their errors. My letters from various parts of 
the State, afsure me that the Whigs are recovering from the shameful lethargy 
which was perhaps, a natural consequence of the intense excitement of the Presi- 
dential contest, and the unhappy dissensions which followed it. I cordially agree 
with you, that to obtain success, we must forget the Presidential controversies and 
National piditics, and rally upcm the local interests and policy of the State. AVhat- 
ever I can contribute to the adoption of such a course, shall be cheerfully rendered. 

" It has always seemed to me inexpedient to hold, or to try to hold a great party 
tc( the interests or care of any leader. When I entered upon my trust, it was with 
an intention to show that I could as cheerfully resign as accept that high public trust, 
and I never intended to exact further support than what was afforded by the fir.-t 
election, and at most, a re-election upon the merits of my administration, — I therefore 
announced immediately after the latter event occurred, that I should not again be a 
candidate. I could not have the vanity to believe that the reconsideration of that 
decision could in any degree be beneficial to the common cause, and if I could, the 
neces-ity of devoting myself to my private affairs, so long neglected, in such try- 
ing times, is a matter of ever paramount obligation. I tender you my thanks for the 
assurance most gratifying to me, of your favorable opinion ; such assurances are the 
only permanent gains of public service, 

" It will afford me very great pleasure if you can make me the visit you propose 
between this time and the next session of the Legislature, and the more as your 
advice will be useful to me in regard to some questions of deep public interest, which 
I wish to leave in a proper situation, to be beneficial to the Whig cause. 

" I am, my dear sir, very respectfully and sincerely yours, &c." 

COPIED FROM MY JOURNAL UNDER THIS DATE. 

June 27, 1842. — It was reported and generally believed in New Yort that 
the Dorr insurrection in Rhode Island would immediately come to a military 
contest. I suggested to Mr. Gr. L. Schuyler that wc might be of service there, 
and proposed that we should take the afternoon steamboat for Providcuco ; there 



352 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the parties were arrayed against eacli other; where the fight was to be we did 
not know. We arrived in Providence on the morning of the 28th of June, when 
we learned that Dorr had nuido a cowardly escape during the night, leaving 
over one hundred men, a part of his force, who were taken prisoners. 

We reported ourselves to the commanding oiBcer of the State troops, who 
was very civil, and presented us to Governor King and others, who thanked us 
for our good intentions. The people of the State turned out with great alacrity. 
Four lives were lost in this foolish and wicked outbreak; the State was put to 
much expense, and much hot blood had been excited. The men, and particu- 
larly those who held the meeting in the Park in New York, who sympathized 
with Dorr's treasonable acts and purposes, have to answer in some measure for 
his crimes, 

I was moved to go on this expedition, first, because I felt it was my duty to 
show a readiness to risk something in support of law and order; second, be- 
cause I wished to give this public demonstration that I did not concur in the 
views entertained on this subject by my brother Alexander, who was one of 
the Vice-Presidents of the Park meeting, and lastly, because I desired to be in 
a fight to know how men do and how I myself would behave on such an occa- 
sion. I had made up my mind to be in the hottest of the fight, if there should 
be one, which there was every reason to believe would be, when we left New 
York. The surprise was how Dorr could avoid fighting after he had become so 
deeply pledged. " Conscience makes cowards of as all." 

ClIAKLES Pt. VaUOIIAN TO JaMES A. HAMILTON. 

" 5 Hertford street, May Fair (Loxdon), 1st July, 1844. 

" My Dear Hamilton : It wns my intention to have written to you, by your son, 
but wlien lie left London my letter was not reatly. It will, liowever, I dare sny, be 
carried to New York by t!ie same steam packet which is to restore him to his family. 
It has given me great pleasure to have made his acqnaint.mcc. He is a very intelli- 
gent, pleasing person, and sucli I assure you is the impression which he has left upon 
all those to whom he was introduced. If some one of your fluctuating administra- 
tions in tlie United States would make it worth his while, I should think he would 
be very useful in the Diplomatic service. 

"The news which you sent me in your letter, delivered by your son, has been 
proved to be very correct by subsequent events. After the result of the Democratic 
Convention at Baltimore, I presume that Mr. Clay will have no opponent for the 
Presidency, and I see that the Senate has refused to ratify tlie annexation of Texas. 
Indeed you will require all the talent and spirit and honesty of Clay, to set you right 
after tlie strange vagaries of Mr. Tyler. 

" So far as Great Britain is concerned, his pretext for the annexation of Texas is 
most flimsy and false. AVe do not seem to take the least interest here in that pro- 
ceeding, excepting in the question of its releasing Texas from any obligations under 
the treaty by which we acknowledged its independence. 

" The voting for Cass at the Baltimore Convention and the test motion in the 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 353 

Senate, of Mr, Benton, seems to me to indicate a stronger party for annexation than 
I could liave supposed, followed, as it must be, by a war with Mexico ai.d tlie dis- 
turbance of your valuable commerce in the Gulf of Mexico by all sorts of unprin- 
cipled marauders in the shape of privateers. France, I hear, does not by any means 
look so quietly upon annexation as we do. 

" The English newspapers will have enabled you to form a correct judgment of 
our political state in England. "We have a strong government, which has placed our 
finances in an excellent condition, and no nation can be respected or powerful in a 
crisis of financial difiiculties. 

" It would give me great pleasure to see you again in England, and if there is no 
hope of that, I shall be glad to hear fi-om you whenever you are disposed to tell me 
how you are going on in the United States, for I take a very deep interest in your 
politics. 

"Believe me, most truly and sincerely, yours, &c." 
23 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM JULY 184Y TO APRIL 1848. 

Offer of services to the Government — The Chicago Internal Improvement Convention — Let- 
ters from Daniel Webster — Affairs in the Papal Dominions — To England and France — 
Arrival at Florence — Outbreak of the Revohition in Tuscany — Governmental Institutions 
in the Papal States— Financial affairs — Military force — Population of Italy — Memoran- 
dum submitted to the Pope — Memorandum from an English gentleman — Reflections by 
J. A. Hamilton upon the political condition of Italy — From Rome to Naples — An inter- 
view with Ibrahim Pacha, Viceroy of Egypt — A messenger of the Italian Liberals — Mr. 
Hamilton determines not to join tlie Committee — A warning of the rising — The Vienna 
Revolution — General uneasiness throughout the Continent — Holland — The Harlem Sea — 
Incident of the Revolution in Paris — Letter from George Sumner. 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of War. 

" July 20, 1847. 
" Dear Sir : I have beea urged by an officer iu the Army, who has seen some 
service in Mexico, to write this letter. He informs me that a brigadier-general is 
to be appointed. If this be so, and no selection has been made, allow me to beg the 
favor of you to present my name to the President for that place. 

" I desire most ardently to serve the country in a military capacity ; and if op- 
portunity should be afforded, to end my life on a field of glory. 
" With great respect and regard, I have the honor to be, 

" Your obedient servant." 

E. Curtis to James A. Hamilton. 

" Gadsbt's Hotel, 10 p. m. 
" My Dear Sir : Mr. Webster will call to see you in the morning between nine 
and ten o'clock, if you can receive him. Pardon my late visit — I have been pre- 
vented from coming at an earlier hour, and also from acknowledging your note, by 
a succession of company through the whole evening. 

" Yours truly, &c. 

" P. B. — Of course I should gives notes to our friend." 

The object of Mr. Webster was to confer with Mr. H. as to the propriety 
of submitting a resolution to Congress. At Mr. W.'s request, the following 
resolution was prepared by J. A. H. for Mr. Webster : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 355 

"By bill as a substitute for the bill under discussion, or by joint resolution de- 
clare that the war is not prosecuted by the United States for conquest; that the 
acquisition of territory is not desirable or desired; that the interest or the honor of 
the United States does not require its prosecution further tlian to secure indemnity 
for the wrongs of her citizens. 

" That the President be and he is hereby authorized, to appoint three commis- 
sioners to meet such commissioners or otlier agents on tlie part of Mexico, in the 
city of Havana, or such other place as the parties may agree upon, to treat of peace 
and the differences between tlie parties, and to settle the boundaries between the 
two countries upon terms the most just and liberal; and that the sum of $50,000 is 
hereby appropriated to be applied by the President to carry out these important 
and humane purposes." 

CHICAGO CONVENTION, JUNE, 1847. 
As a delegate to the Chicago Convention to promote internal improvements, 
I sought advice from the best minds in the country ; and to that end I ad- 
dressed a letter to Daniel Webster, and received the following reply : 

'' Makshfieli), June 17, 1847. 

"My Dear Sir : I received yours of the loth instant, last evening. I am glad 
you are going to Chicago; and though not in very good working order, I will try to 
give in some form my sentiments on the subjects there likely to be discussed. 

" There are two difficulties : First, as to the form of making the communication. 

" I have an invitation from two or three hundred individuals, of all factions, in- 
viting me to attend the Convention, and recording in complimentary terms my votes 
heretofore in favor of harbor and internal improvements. Shall I say what I have 
to say in answer to this ? Would it be better that you should write me a letter, 
asking for my opinions, &c., which you could commit to the Convention? I do not 
see how I could presume to address the Convention itself. Think of this. 

" Second. — I have discussed these subjects so often, and recently in my speech 
at Philadelphia, that I have nothing new to say. I could only repeat what has been 
said before. 

"I am a little afraid of the results of this Convention, in a party point of view. 
The "Whigs have now the advantage of being that party which sustains Internal 
Improvements. Is it not possible that this Convention may take from them this 
vantage ground ? All that has been done for the country on these subjects has been 
d(me by the Whigs, this is now getting popular. Tlie Whigs are entitled to this 
popularity in justice; now as leading men of the other side will be there, and will 
be prominent, can we afterward claim this wise, beneficent and now most accepta- 
ble policy to be exclusively Whig policy ? In other words will not the character 
and probable proceedings of the Convention relieve the other party from the odiiini 
of Mr. Polk's vetoes? This point ought to be well considered. 

" As to the other topic of your letter, I think there is nothing it all to be done at 
present. There is a strong popular feeling in favor of General Taylor. It nnist bo 
allowed to take its course for the present undoubtedly. It may outride, but it must 
be left to events. 

" Pray give me a line containing your thoughts on the matter of the Convention 

at an early day. Yours very truly, 

" Daniel Webster." 



356 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

I went to the Convention. The Honorable Edward Bates was made Presi- 
dent. His address was a most excellent one. I, of course, played the subordi- 
nate part of taking care that the course of proceedings should be systematic ; 
and to that end when about to proceed to business I proposed that a Commit- 
tee should be appointed, to which all propositions should be submitted without 
debate, further than to allow the proposer to explain his proposition ; and that 
this Committee should report such a plan of action as they deemed best, or 
something to that eifect. I write from memory, not having a. copy of the pro- 
ceedings. 

This course was adopted and the Committee was appointed. Subsequently 
the Hon. John C. Spencer took the lead. 

General Cass wrote a letter stating that circumstances did not permit him 
to attend the Convention. 

The letter, Appendix B, dated August 30th, 1847. was written with some 
care — not for publication. It is now given for what it may be considered as 
worth : 

Hon. Daniel Webster to James A. Hamilton, 

" New York, July 1, 1847. 

*' My Dear Sir: I concluded upon the whole, that my best way was to say what 
I wished to say, in a letter written to the Committee of Correspondence, in answer 
to their invitation. Sucli a letter was mailed last night, but I had not time to write 
to yon. 

" I know not how tbe Convention will relish my letter. It is pretty stiff in as- 
serting the doctrine of internal improvements as a doctrine of our side ; though this 
is done, I think, in a way to give no just offence. Mr. Curtis thinks the letter about 
right. 

"I have no doubt the Convention originated in a plan for giving the Nortli- 
western branch of the Loco-foco party the lead in that party, and making a N. "W. 
President. 

" The Convention may, or may not, print my letter. If not, Mr. C. joins me in 
desiring that you will cause it to be printed in the Chicago papers. 

"We look fur your proceedings with a good deal of interest. 

" Yours very truly." 

THIRD VOYAGE TO EUROPE, 1847-1848. 

James A. Hamilton to President James K. Polk. 

" New York, October 11, 1847. 

"Sir: I have the honor to submit to you the following suggestions connected 
with the existing state of things in the Papal Dominions. I go in the steamer of 
the ] 6th instant to England, and thence directly through France to Italy, to pass the 
winter tliere. I have given some attention to the course of events in tlie jjeninsula. 

" Under tlie government of Pius IX. the people of the Roman States are en- 
deavoring to break their chains, and their example has inspired those of the other 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 357 

Italian States to make an effort to throw off the iron despotism of their princes 
which is sustained by the power of Austria. 

" In this state of things it has occurred to me that the expression of the sympa- 
thy of the people of the United States, which is deep and universal, through their 
Government, would have an effect useful in very many ways to those people and 
to us. 

" I am well aware that without the aclion of Congress, diplomatic relations 
could not be established, nor do I advise that course ; but, should the President, in 
his message, referring to the struggles for liberty in this most interesting portion of 
the globe, suggest to Congress the propriety of openiug such an intercourse, it would 
be of important service to these people and to human freedom, and it would give the 
Catholics of tliis country, and the world, the utmost gratification. Should you deem 
such a course proper, and should you direct the Secretary of State to send a copy 
of your message to me, with instructions to communicate it to the Pope, with such 
other instructions as you might think proper, it would afford me very great pleasure 
to be the humble (and if you please, private and confidential instrument) in such a 
beneficent policy, without any view to compensation or ulterior employment. 
" I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, «&c." 

I received no answer, and perhaps did not deserve one. I arrived in Lon- 
don in November, 1847, the day, it was said, the Privy Council found it unneces- 
sary to relieve the Bank of England from the restraints of Sir Robert Peel's 
bilL I passed over to Paris, where I arrived early in November, 1847 ; re- 
mained in Paris a few days, thence to Marseilles, and on the 6th December left 
Genoa for Leghorn, in a steamer. On the boat, met a drunken dandy, full of 
affectation and conceit — Dyce Sombers — who got into my berth. When I called 
this intrusion to the captain's notice, he begged me not to insist upon taking 
him out, as, being drunk, he would make a great noise ; and promised that he 
would give me another berth as good. This fellow was an East Indian Prince, 
who paid two hundred francs to go to Leghorn with his valet, a ragged, dirty 
boy. 

December Sth. — Arrived at Florence, where I met my friend, formerly Duke 
Denou, now Prince Talleyrand. He told me the Secretary of Prince Talley- 
rand had published what he said were a part of the Prince's memoirs, and had 
intimated that he intended to make another publication. The Prince believes 
that this was a threat to get money, and Jisked whether he ought to give him 
money. I said, " Certainly not ; if you purchase forbearance now, you will 
soon have to do so again." 

The houses here are built very massively, and are apparently firo-jTOof. 
The practices of the people are very dirty — no delicacy towards females. The 
people are under great excitement, without knowing what they wish, or how to 
effect anything. They sing, talk loud and vehemently, are very courteous to 
each other and to strangers. Both men and women are under size. 

The dress of the country-people, with their large Leghorn hats, is peculiar. 
That of the citizens is similar to the people of France. 



358 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

The revolution in Tuscany came oif in tliis wise : blindness is a frequent 
malady, and those so afflicted are objects of deep and general sympathy. A 
blind man, sitting on a bridge begging, said something to a policeman which 
offended him. The latter treated tlie blind man harshly, and he resisted ; the 
passers-by came to his assistance ; the police, in force, came to the aid of their 
associate* a fight ensued; the people being victors, followed the police to their 
quarters and took possession of them with their arms. In the dungeons the 
bones of dead men were found in chains, as were the bodies of those who were 
dying, and others recently incarcerated. They had been subjected to the most 
brutal treatment and nearly starved. This was soon noised abroad, and the 
people drove off the police, subjected the magistrates, who were considered their 
accomplices, to a humiliating conditiou, and being armed in great numbers, went 
to the palace, drove off the body-guard, and informed the Grand Duke, who was 
beloved, that they would guard and protect him. lie acquiesced ; and thus the 
public authority was overthrown, and the Grand Duke was taken in triumph 
through the streets to the theatre, to give his sanction to what had been done 
by his people. This was the first part of the revolution of that period, and it 
was a bloodless one. 

The people of Tuscany are the most intelligent and independent of all the 
people of Italy. 

After some months, when I returned to Florence, I was invited to dinner 
by Mr. Greenough, an American sculptor of merit, to meet four distinguished 
public men who were understood to be the advisers of the Grand Duke as to 
the government to be established. The conversation was frank and interesting. 
I found that the Grand Duke was disposed to go much further in introducing a 
popular government than his advisers believed to be prudent. I asked if the 
superstitions by which the people had been so long subjected to the domination 
of the clergy were to be denounced. The answer was, they must be continued ; 
we could not govern the people without the influence of the priests ; and these 
superstitions are essential to the latter. 

We left Florence, and arrived at Rome in the evening of the 20th of De- 
cember, and stopped at the Hotel Britannique. On the 24th, in the evening, 
high mass was performed at St. Maria Maggiore, by the Pope in person. The 
people, who were there in great numbers, evidently did not participate in the 
exercises with any heartiness. 

On the 25th, Christinas day, the religious ceremony made a gorgeous dis- 
play. The people showed no interest whatever ; they seemed to be at a spec- 
tacle where there were performers to interest and amuse them. 

1848. January \d. — The Earl of Minto called upon me. He is Lord 
Privy Seal, a member of her Majesty's Cabinet, is an accredited Minister to 
Sardinia and Tuscany, but not to Rome. He had been received by the Pope, 
and had several private conversations with him upon the condition of public 
affairs. Our conversation referred to the popular movements in the Papal 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 359 

States, tending to a revolution. Lord Minto said the Pope was very frank and 
candid, and was very much disposed to make changes which would meet the 
public wishes, particularly in secularizing the public oflSces. From all he said, 
I inferred that the popular movements were admitted to be of a grave charac- 
ter ; that the Pope had very good intentions ; that he was not a man of a vigor- 
ous intellect ; and that there is much reason to believe the Cardinals a'bout him 
and others who seem to acquiesce in his measures of reform, are false to him. 

I made the acquaintance of an English gentlemen who was connected with 
a newspaper. He related this anecdote : The Pope wishes to bring laymen 
into some of the public offices now exclusively held by the clergy. In his per- 
sonal individual interviews with the cardinals, members of his council, he urged 
upon them the propriety and expediency of this change, in which they generally 
acquiesced. When they came together, the change was proposed by the Holy 
Father ; it was discussed and submitted to a vote. White balls are " yea," 
black balls are " nay.'' Each member present puts a ball on the table, thus 
indicating his vote. On this occasion a majority of the balls were black. The 
Pope put his capote down upon the black balls, declaring that it did not be- 
come the Council to be divided, and that the question was decided in the 
affirmative. He, having the right and power, so decided, regardless of the 
opinions of his Council. 

I became acquainted with some of those who were understood to be 
leading men in the popular movement, and from them learned much of their 
affairs and of what they complained, and the movements which were in progress. 
I prepared for one of those gentlemen, at his request, a paper containing such 
measures of reform as they desired, and I thought necessary, in which I en- 
deavored to impress upon them this view : " That personal liberty, the right 
to be free from arrest without a written warrant founded upon a charge made 
under oath, and from imprisonment until after an open, public examination, 
was the only sure foundation of public liberty." Our conversation on these 
subjects were peculiarly interesting to me, and perhaps to them. I thus learned 
much more than I could otherwise have done of the working of this Govern- 
ment, and its various departments. 

I copy from my note-book. 

" Tribunal of the Vicar- General. — The ostensible object is to investigate and 
punish immorality, and deviation from, or neglect of religious discipline. The 
delinquency is first manifested to the offender by his being taken up at any 
time, in any place, or under any circumstances, even out of his bed at night, by 
a soldier, and secretly conveyed to prison. The whole proceeding is secret. 
There are no witnesses to confront the accused, and a secret condeuuiatiou by 
the Vicar-General and his satellites is pretty sure to follow. All the means 
of attenqjtiug to prove innocence arc frustrated. 

This court, as it is called, was originally established for the superintendence 
of the clergy, but by usurpation and abuse of power, is now made the instru- 



360 REMINISCENCES 0¥ JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ment of revenge, and used for private gain against any individual who may 
commit a faux pas, or eat meat on a fast day, &c. The curates of the parishes 
are the real police officers, having immense power. They are understood to be 
the spies of the Vicar-General. If they are at enmity with or prosecute an in- 
dividual or family, the only escape is by death, or removal from the parish. 

The system of espionage (before recent reforms) for political oifences, was 
on an immense scale. The nobility, clergy, middle classes, and lower orders, 
were paid to report. The inquisition still exists (1847) but is insignificant 
compared with what it once was. Torture is not used, it has been suspended 
by the Vicar-General. It still, however, investigates questions of doctrine, or 
maxims declared by the clergy not orthodox, and punishes heterodoxy severely. 
Its proceedings are secret. The priests among the highest order are not gov- 
erned by that severe morality, which is assumed and required. Their great 
crimes are avarice and lewdness. The judicature is said to be corrupt. 

The Rota is the supreme tribunal. It is independent and incorruptible. 
Its process is long and expensive, but justice is obtained at last. An instance 
of this is given in the case of Torlonia, the great banker, who had taken posses- 
sion of the Caesarini Sforza family estate, which he was obliged to return to a 
poor boy, whom he attempted to prove was a bastard. Personal influence has 
no power with this body, although it has with every other. The civil offices 
are generally filled by ecclesiastics, particularly those where emoluments are 
high, and the work light. 

The population of the Roman States was 2,500,000 in 1837, in 1848, 
3,000,000 ; the increase is said to be greater in the Legations than in the 
patrimony of St. Peter. In Rome, the population in 1812 was 90,000, in 
1837, 160,000, in 1848 said to be 180,000. The population in the Legations 
increases faster than in the patrimony, and the moral and physical powers of 
the inhabitants of the former are far above those of the latter. 

The whole extent is 118,117 square miles, the soil fruitful, and the climate 
with a few exceptional places, healthy and delicious. All the elements for an 
increase of population and wealth exist in the people, soil and climate. Five 
millions could be supported. These advantages are, however, counteracted by 
bad government, a government in which the head is elected by an exclusive and 
privileged class, ignorant of political economy, educated despots, accustomed to 
implicit obedience, in a word, ecclesiastics, who according to Clarendon, " take 
the worst measures of public affairs of any men who can road and write." 

In 1837, the debt was thirty millions, the revenue six millions, the annual 
deficit was one million. The debt in 1848, is not less than forty-five millions. 
The ecclesiastical property is worth fifty millions. Instead of receiving from 
the provinces the hard dollars, it draws at one and three quarter per cent, for 
thirty days. 

The revenue arises from the monopoly of tobacco and salt, imposts, dispen- 
sations for crimes, and marriages, archbishoprics and ecclesiastical appointments 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 3G1 

(the latter is very small), duties on articles of consumption (octroi), and land 
tax. The latter is not equal because founded on an estimated value of property 
made one hundred years ago. 

The octroi operates upon the product of the labor of the peasantry or the 
consumer, and by means of weekly lotteries. 

In 1837, the military force consisted of 9,000 Romans, 6,000 Swiss, 4,000 
Austrians at Bologna, and 2,000 French at Ancona. The two latter, now (in 
1848) are withdrawn, and the former increased. The civic guard is numerous. 

The pay of the soldier four bajocchi per day, and meat or bread; colonel $74 
per month, captain $33, lieutenant $19, subaltern $Si. 

Instruction. — The people may be instructed by the Jesuits, but to a limited 
extents The schools and colleges are supplied with masters from the clergy, 
except at the Saepierozia, where most of the professors are secular. The higher 
classes of people are ignorant, proud, and exclusive. The middle classes intelli- 
gent, industrious, and in good condition. The lower classes wicked, brutal, re- 
vengeful, and ignorant, powerful and robust physically, requiring only a good 
government to give them education, and encourage industry, to make them 
happy and contented. There is no country in the old world possessing such ele-- 
ments for prosperity. 

TJie ex2)orts. — Grain, lamb-skins, silk, timber, and works of art. Imports^ 
colonial produce, manufactures, lead, sometimes wine and oil. Ifannfactures, 
coarse woolens, hats, and coarse leather. 

When there was (as I have seen,) a slight fall of snow, the people outside 
of the walls come to the city government for bread, and receive it. 

Reformed and United States, Rome, Tuscany and the kingdom of the House 
of Savoy, nine millions, to wit : Rome 2,800,000, Tuscany 1,200,000, Savoy 
5,000,000. Unreformed and separate States, Lombardy, Venetian kingdom 
5,000,000, two Sicilies, Parma and Modena 9,000,000. Total, 14,000,000. 
Grand total of Italy, 23,000,000 (according to Balbo). 

James A. Hamilton to a Friend in New York. 

" EoME, February 27, 1848. 

"Dear Sir: You will receive with pleasure and surprise this letter from an old 
friend and occasional correspondent, written in this remote and intere.4ing city. 

"When I turn my thoughts back from tliis OM World in her state of decrepi- 
tude and decay, to our happy Ifind, so new in its institutions, but so much farther 
advanced towards true civilization, where the mental and physical properties of man 
are so much more vigorously developed than in .iny part of Europe, England with 
all her pride not excepted, the undoubted result of our free institntiuns, I thank 
God / am an American. 

" The grand idea first announced in our Declaration of Independence and practi- 
cally illustrated in the Constitution of the United States " that the oidy true founda- 
tion of government is the will of the people, and its only true aim, tlic greatest 
good of the greatest number, has never on this side of the Atlantic becu the object 



362 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of the faith, or the rule of action of its statesmen or politicians when engaged in 
forming or administering their Governments. Oa the contrary, it is deemed by 
them a dangerous heresy, subversive not only of thrones, but of the power and 
influence of the classes who consider themselves born with boots and spurs on, to 
ride at will tlie submissive people. 

"Nothing ilUistrates more clearly or strangely the difference between the classes 
of the two regions than the fact that, in almost all the countries of Europe, the 
object and indeed the sole end, of all the projected reforms of the social condition 
of the laboring classes, (and they are numerous and continued) never assume to do 
more than to enable them, by unceasing toil, and the utmost privation, to support 
themselves and families without being a bartlien to the public. Further than this, 
they never hope that they can aspire. As to education, except perhaps in Prussia 
and Scotland, as to a competency, as to comfort, as to independence, sucb an idea 
never enters their heads. How different from all this is the condition of the same 
classes in our happy country need not be stated. 

" You have heard of 'Merry England.' If ever sbe was so, she is so no more. 
Her joys are all turned to sorrows. You have heard of ' the roast beef of old Eng- 
land,' there is certainly much of that there, but the masses not only do not eat it, 
but they do not know its taste. As to schools for the people and their children, the 
fitness of having them and the mode of establishing them in England, "Wales and 
Ireland, is much discussed, but no nearer adoption than it was in the time of Robin 
Hood. Indeed, the ignorance of the people in Wales, in letters and religion, as 
appears from the report of commissioners appointed to investigate the subject, is 
much greater than can be conceived ; and, of course, the morals of the people, as 
appears from the same report, are at the lowest point of degradation — not higher 
than the brutes. Eor the justness of these remarks, I appeal with confidence to 
the official reports, to the reviews, to the es>ays, to the public discussions, and to 
the laws touching the condition of the labor of these countries. 

" Without meaning to boast of the superior advantages of our political and social 
systems, which with humble submission to the Ruler of Nations we ought to attri- 
bute to His peculiar favor, I may be allowed to say that the political reforms of 
this old Avorld, so numerous and so rapidly advancing, are due to our example. 
' The spirit of '76 ' is the pillar of light by day and of fire by night to all mankind, 
and without blasphemy, I hope I may be permitted to express the conviction, long 
entertained, tbat the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, practically carried 
out in our system of government, is the greatest boon received by mankind next to 
the sacred revelations of the Almighty himself. Be assured that this is a truth 
wliich is established beyond all peradventure, by the history of the world from 1776 
to the present period. 

" I am led to these reflections by the deeply interesting political events which 
are passing at this moment in Italy. In tlie course of a few weeks three absolute 
princes, the King of Savoy, the Duke of Tuscany and the King of the Sicilies, have 
laid down their power at the feet of their peoples, by committing the legislatures 
of tbeir kingdoms to their representatives, and it is rumored here that the Pope, 
the most obstinate of all, is, notwithstanding the opposition of his Cardinals and of 
the Emperor of Austria, about to do the same. From a variety of causes, but none 
more efficient than that opposition, his task is much more difficult than was that of 
his neighbors. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 363 

" How competent these people are for the exercise of this power I am unable to 
say. The experiment will be made under very favorable circumstances. It is most 
certainly, a surety for the future, that these revolutions have, with a very unimpor- 
tant exception, been bloodless, but I entertain an abiding confidence that the ' spirit 
of '76,' which proclaimed freedom and happiness to all mankind, will work out its 
high mission here and elsewhere, in its appointed time. 

"No part of Europe, not excepting Ireland and Eussia, has been worse governed, 
nor shows more distinctly, in its religious, moral, and political degradati(m, the 
effects of an iron despotism, than the Pontifical States, the two Sicilies and 
Sardinia. 

" The people of Tuscany, from the more liberal and enlightened administration 
of their prince, are in all respects much higher in the scale of civilization than the 
others. 

"This reform movement, so interesting to us particularly, and which will make 
every despot in Europe tremble, commenced in the Eternal City. 

" Under the administration of the last Pope, Gregory XVI., a miserable sensualist, 
who was completely in the hands first of his barber and the barber's wife, and next 
the brother of the former, the government of his dominions was as corrupt and 
abandoned as it was possible to be ; and liad become so intolerable even to his 
submissive people, that at his death, there were such fearful evidences of revolt, 
the Conclave elected, contrary to the usual practice and the personal ambition of 
its older members, one of the youngest of their number, a man of known liberal 
views, to fill his chair. 

"The renowned Pio Nono, or Pius IX. commenced the Italian reforms; and to 
the popularity of his name and character is to be attributed, more than to any other 
circumstance, not only the popular impulse, but also the moderation of the people. 
He first established the 'Civic Guard,' and gave a very qualified freedom to the 
press ; and ' without ' as he said in his address to his consulta, ' having parted with 
a little of his power,' he still preserves absolute dominion over the hearts and 
minds of his subjects. 

"The Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, one of the fairest portions of Italy, is a 
province of Austria, and is nearly crushed by the iron heel of the Croat. It pre- 
sent?) at this moment a most interesting problem ; the nobles and the people, always 
averse to the rule of the strangers, feeling deeply their wrongs, instigated by the 
example and sympathy of their neighbors and brothers having the same language, 
religion, and illustrious recollections, have already manifested a determined spirit 
of revolt. On the other hand, the Emperor of Austria has said, in a letter to his 
Viceroy, 'I have made all the concessions you required, for my promises; I will 
make no more, and now I rely upon the fidelity and courage of mj troops.' 

" He has in this province 150,000 men, of all arms, and is making great exertions 
to push on more. Under such circumstances, it is greatly to be feared that in this 
beautiful portion of ' Sunny Italy ' the fire of liberty will be extinguished with the 
blood of her people. A contest seems almost inevitable, which may, and probably 
will, involve the peace of Europe. 

" I have examined with attention the course of events in all Middle and Southern 
Italy, and am entirely unable to form an opinion as to the probable course of these 
governments. It is quite clear that the masses, from their ignorance, their habitual 
servility, and their blind confidence in their priesthood, (who arc, generally speak- 



364 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 



ing, ignorant and demoralized,) are not only entirely unfitted to govern themselves, 
but incapable of knowing what good government means. Wliether wise and 
patriotic spirits will arise to moderate and direct the impulsive character of the 
people, or whether all will pass into a state of the wildest anarchy, it is impossible 
to foresee. But I am quite sure that the dominion of the Church of Home over the 
minds and conduct of the people, which has been so absolute, must now come to an 
end. The hostility to the Jesuits, so deep and universal even in the Holy City, the 
seat of the power and wealth of that society, will extend to all the other orders of 
the priesthood. The reason of this fierce hostility to the former is merely because 
they have only more grossly deceived and oppressed the people than the others, 
and because ihey have had more power and greater opportunities to do so. 

" Fi'om a very close and extended observation of the people, in their churches 
and elsewhere, I am quite satisfied that although very attentive to the forms and 
ceremonies prescribed and forced upon them under pain of refusing absolution and 
of the Vicar-General's Courts, they are by no means a devout or religious peo[)le. 
On the contrary, the monstrous superstition and frauds which are put upon them 
have made many of the clergy and most of the thinking portions skeptical to a very 
great de^'ree. 

"I will here refer to one of the many gross impostures. In the Church of St. 
Maria d'ara Coeli, one of the oldest in Eome, which belonged first to the Benedictine 
monks and now to the Franciscans, the altar is contrived into a sort of Stage 
with scenes made of painted canvas, exhibiting trees and men as skillfully painted 
and placed and effectively lighted as in our theatres; representing the wise men of 
the Ea-^t worshipping at the manger of our Saviour, who is represented by a wooden 
doll, gauiHly dressed, lying in a cradle of wood, elaborately carved and ornamented; 
his mother, the Virgin, attired in a fashionable French dress, deeply flounced, lean- 
ing over him. The account of this wooden doll which is delivered by the Church 
to the devout as a tradition, and received by them, is, that it was carved by a 
Franciscan pilgrim out of a tree which grew on the Mount of Olives ; and painted 
by St. Luke while the pilgrim was sleeping over his work. It is believed to have a 
miraculous power of curing all diseases, and it is actually carried to the bed-side 
of the sick, for which a certain fee is paid ; and this is done so frequently, that the 
Sanctus Bambino (holy baby) is said to have a more lucrative practice than any 
physician in Eome. 

" But, to give this imposture greater importance in the eyes of the ignorant and 
superstitions, they are taught and required to believe, that the Bambino having 
been at one time taken and kept away from the church, returned on its own feet, 
and before it entered its sanctuary, whicli it did at midnight, to inform the devout 
of this joyous event, it set all the bells of Eome to ringing a merry peal. 

" I make this statement of a fact, as well known as any other thing at Eome, 
and which is only one of the very many absurdities which are propounded to the 
people as deserving their faitli, in order to show the extent of the frauds which are 
practised and to which nothing but the influence of knowledge and freedom of mind 
resulting from liberal institutions will ever put an end. And reasoning from the 
course of human events, I venture to predict that the people of these kingdoms 
will, when they discard these delusions, throw off, with them, all religious belief 
and restraints; and rushing into the other extreme become, as the French did, a 
nation of infidels." 



REMINISCENCES OE JAMES A. HAMILTON-. 3G5 

I return to my note-book of the Revolutionary movements. 

December 21 ih, 1847. — A procession intended to pay homage to the Pope on 
Saint John's Day, was postponed in consequence of the rain until this cveuing, 
when a numerous procession, with torches, went to the Quirinal Palace to re- 
ceive the blessing of the Pope. 

Angelo Brunetti, the Tribune of the People, who was called by them Ciceru- 
accio * (the fat boy), had been a dealer in wood ; and having made a compe- 
tency, had retired from that employment. Oa the morning of the ceremonial 
there was presented by him to the Pope, in writing, a list of twenty-eight de- 
mands ; among others, that he should banish the Jesuits; and that he should 
establish commercial freedom. During the ceremonial, this man held a banner 
on which was inscribed : " The Roman people have many desires to express to 
their adored Sovereign ; but they do not supplicate him, relying on the inter- 
cessions already employed by their great leader." He is the great man of the 
people ; has greater influence over them than any other person, and has at times 
restrained their violence. He and they were (as wiser men declared to me) on 
this occasion guilty of a capital error. 

These demands place the Pope in a position of alternative that may ob- 
struct, if they do not defeat, his proposed reforms. He cannot banish the 
Jesuits. That would be an act of gross injustice and oppression. They have 
too much power to be thus dealt with, whatever they may deserve. The other 
denominations of the Roman priesthood would make common cause on such 
an occasion; although generally they hate the Jesuits. If the Pope re- 
fuses them, his hold upon the people, through their confidence and aff'ection for 
him, will be impaired, because it will be a refusal to gratify them in an object 
of the deepest interest to them. But, above all, the designing men, who are 
behind — the wire-workers, as they are called in our country — will make use of 
this refusal in connection with the " Letter to * * * a Jesuit," and that 
part of his allocution of the 17th December last, in which he refers to the 
course of the Diet of Switzerland,! to impute to him, what he is not entirely 
free from, a little Jesuitism. 



* Garibaldi, in a letter, gives the end of this man. He says, "I have been most fortuna.te 
in many circumstances of my life, but not in all ; for instance, in 1849, after I had iought ior 
Italian land at Rome and San Martino, unsuccessfully, because of the apathy and mdifterence 
of the population in those days, I embarked with a few companions in thirteen snvAl boats, 
my own being the smallest. Nine out of these thirteen boats were taken by the Austnans 
after a furious cannonade. A Roman exile, Ciceruaccio, and his two youthful sons, landed 
with myself and my dying wife. I sought to hide my precious burden from the Austnans, 
whose barbarity I well" knew ; they were close upon us, and we took refuge in a held ot In- 
dian corn. Though the soldiers surrounded us on every side, they did not discover us; oiit 
they captured Ciceruaccio, his two sons, and seven companions; and, having ordered a party 
of countrymen to dig nine gnves, the Austrians shot and buried their prisoners— aftcrwara 
kiUing the younger son of Ciceruaccio, a child of thirteen, with the butt-ends of their "'"*^^'^'^- 
Ugo Bossi, and a Milanese named Sivraght, were afterwards arrested and shot iit ^*"'"^"' j 
Foreigners must never again tread this garden of Italy; and therefore I rccommcna to . 
classes the use of the rifle." - , 

f " In the Helvetic War," he savs, " for which truly fatal war wc sorrow cvei Ironi tno 
depths of our heart, as well considering the blood shed by that nation, the slaugUter oi 



366 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

January ls<, 1848. — There was to-day a strong popular movement. The 
people went to the Quirinal Palace, to ask the Pope's decision. The Governor 
of the city ordered the guard to be doubled, and they drove the people from 
the palace. 

Jaiuiary Id. — The Pope, in order to pacify, determined to make a detour, 
and to bless the people as he went along. In the Corso, Prince Orsini drove 
up to a house opposite to the Cafe Nuova (where we had a window). The 
prince was cheered ; he made an address; he was replied to. There was a 
banner displayed " Pio Nono, the guest of the people, if he will." This was 
distinct from any cortege of the Pope, and had a significant relation to the 
previous demands. 

We afterwards saw the Pope in his carriage. He drove on a trot through 
the crowded streets, blessing the people — this was evidently designed, to avoid, 
any address. He probably hopes, by time and certain influences, to divert a 
serious issue. 

Note. — The allocution of the Pope, of the 17th December, 1847, is a very 
remarkable production. It shows that the infallibility of the Pope is not con- 
sidered as so universally received by his people as not to require the assistance 
of defence, even against newspaper attacks. 

January hth. — I addressed the following letter to the Secretary of State of 

the United States : 

James A. Hamilton to James Bdchanan, Secretary of State. 

" RoMK (Italy), January 5, 1848. 

" Sie: I have the honor to send to you, for the use of the Government and in 
the hope that they will be translated and published, various decrees called '' Moto 
proprio,^^ issued by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and also by the Pope, by which 
you will be informed of the extent of the concessions to public opinion which have 
been accorded by the respective sovereign?. 

"It is to be remarked that the latter prince, wisely foreseeing the course of events, 
made his concessions in a timely manner, and not as the result of intimidation; 
whereas the former, although influenced as he always has been by a liberal spirit, 
delayed his purposes until tumultuous meetings forced them from him — and has thus 
placed himself in a position to be unable to refuse other demands which it might 
not be wise to yield, or to engage in a conflict with his people with arms in their 
hands. 

"The condition of public affairs in all the Italian States is exceedingly interest- 
ing. The people, ignorant and superstitious beyond any others in Europe, except 
perhaps the serfs of Russia, brutalized by a long course of despotism exercised over 
them, not only by their sovereigns but by the aristocracy and the clergy, are wholly 
unfitted for self-government. They are very excitable, and consequently are in the 



brothers ; the atrocious daily recurring and fatal discords, hatreds, and dissensions (which 
usually punish nations, in consequence especially of civil war); as the detriment we learn 
the Catholic reliiiioii has suffered, and fear it may yet suffer, in consequence of this ; and 
finally, the deplorable acts of sacrilege committed in this first conflict, which our soul shrinks 
from the narration of." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 367 

hands of factions leaders, who can at any time push them on to acts of ontra'^e and 
a state of anarchy. This tlie sovereigns well understand; and being understood, it 
is to be feared they will neither yield or withhold wisely and timely. 

" The Pope hopes that the religious feelings of his people, and their affection for 
him personally, which is certainly very great, will enable him to control them. The 
universal apprehension of Austrian interference has cei'tainly a salutary influence. 

"The Civic Guard (that is, an armed and embodied militia) has been established 
in Sardinia, in Tuscany, and in the Papal States. 

" The press is without restraint in Tuscany. In the Papal States it is nearly so. 
In Sardinia, it is legalized and extended, but is under a severe censorship. The 
Grand Duke of Tuscany has promised a Council of State and other reforms, as has 
the Sardinian King, while the Pope by his moto propria of the 14th October, 1847, 
which is called here the Constitution, has created a Consulta di Stato, now merely 
advisory, which may, and will, ultimately usurp the power of legislation, hitherto 
and even yet exclusively belonging to and exercised by the sovereign, and which, as 
it merely represents the sovereign will and pleasure, is a pure despotism. 

" Connected with these and other very interesting views of political affairs here, 
which I forbear to dwell upon, allow me to express the wish, very universal here, 
among Americans, English, and the thinking portion of tlie Italians, that our Gov- 
ernment should have diplomatic relations with all the powers of the peninsula, which 
might be in the person of one man accredited to Tuscany, Rome and Naples. We 
have a charge d'affaires already in Sardinia, who is spoken of with great respect. 
A discreet, well informed, Protestant citizen, who could speak the French language, 
this being indispensable to the service, in the manner I refer to, might, by salutary 
counsels, be of important service to the governments and the peoples. 

" I beg leave to say that in making these suggestions I have no view to such an 
employment, which I neither expect nor desire. I could not enter upon it. 
" I have the honor to be, witli great respect, yours, &c." 

Rome, January Sth, 1848.— The following paper was prepared by James A. 
Hamilton, at the request of a gentleman of rank in the government of the Sov- 
ereign Pontiff, with the understanding that it should be conveyed by him to 
the Pope. The gentleman himself concurred in the views herein expressed. 

" Common report says that the people, or a part of them, have prepared and 
sent to the Pope, a series of demands, twenty-eight in number, some deserving of 
consideration, and others not. Among these demands was one for the suppression 
of the Society of Jesus, and another for the abolition of lotteries. The question 
submitted is, how ought the Sovereign Pontiff to treat these demands. 

" It is said that this paper was, in tlie course of transmission, diverted before it 
reached the eye of the Sovereign Pontiff, and that this was done to relieve him from 
embarrassment. 

" With great submission to those who ought to understand the subject much bet- 
ter than the author of these reflections can be supposed to do, he states unhesitat- 
ingly that the arrestation of the paper was unwise, and a grievous fault against the 
sovereign and his people. 

" It is their right and duty to express in decorous language, their grievances and 
wants, and it is his duty to receive these complaints and petitions, and give due heed 



3G8 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

to both. Such a mutual course will preserve authority on the one part, and confi- 
dence and nifection on the other, and t!ius prevent outbreaks. Let it be understood 
by the people that their petitions cannot reach the holy and sovereign eye or e;ir, or 
that they are not to be considered by him as worthy of attention, and there will 
inevitably follow the destruction of tliat affection and mutual confidence upon which 
the peace of the present system and the progress of salutary reforms depend. 
Here was the fiult to both parties. The folly was, iu temporizing with measures 
upon an occasion which required action and decision. 

" The course taken was that one of all others which the enemy to the Pontiff 
and the people would have taken ; and to it is, probably, to be in part attributed 
that suspicion of a want of confidence which seemed to have been felt by the people 
about the first day of the year, and which had like to have produced a crisis. The 
question is, however, not answered. There appears to me to be no difficulty attend- 
ing the affair. On the contrary, it was one which could have been turned most 
manifestly to the advantage of his Holiness. 

"His Consulta di Stato I understand to be an advisory bod}^, which is supposed 
to represent the feelings, and to guard the interests of the whole country. They 
are the representatives of the people. The course to have been pursued in this (and 
on all like occasions) was, for the Holy Father to send this petition of the people to 
the people's representatives for their advice in relation to their requirements or 
grievances, accompanied by a message, in which occasion should have been taken by 
the sovereign to express his wish that his people, collectively or Individually, high 
orJow, should address to him their petitions; and that he desired rather to invite 
them to do so, than to repress such a spirit ; making some allusion to its advantages, 
and with strong professions of Lis disposition to do full justice to all that should be 
so done decorously and considerately ; also, reiterating his determination to promote 
all such reforms as were consistent with the stability of the throne, the sacredness 
of the Church, and the welfare of all classes of the people. 

" I would have advised that in this message he should have adverted to the de- 
mand for the exile of a certain class of his subjects as inadmissible ; because, if 
granted, it would violate that sncred right of all his subjects from the highest to the 
most abject, to perfect security in their lives, liberty, property, and the enjoyment 
of their happy country, its wise institutions and sacred religion, unless deprived 
thereof for some offence against the laws, by a due course of trial and conviction. 

"The assertion of this maxim, upon which, certainly, is founded the whole civil 
and social system, would have been so gratifying to the people, as the sheet anchor 
of their hopes, and its reasonableness as applied to the order referred to, as well as 
to any other or to any individual, would be so clear, that they would have been sat- 
isfied. 

"These demands would thus be left to be disposed of by the Council of 
State, wlio would report thereon in due time, or not at all, as they should think 
proper or necessary ; and thus, instead of impairing the confidence and affection of 
the people towards the sovereign, it would have been increased, and all responsi- 
bility would be thrown upon the representative and advisory body. 

" The adversaries to reform may be presumed to endeavor to push the people to 
make demands whicli cannot be granted, in the hope of destroying the existing rela- 
tions between the sovereign and the people, and then to excite them to excesses. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 3 09 

The following paper was prepared by an English gentleman for my use, when 
I was in Home, in 1848. He had been living a long time in Eome, spoke the 
Italian language with as great facility and accuracy as his own, and his charac- 
ter and opportunities were such as to entitle what he has written to entire con- 
fidence. 

POSITION OF ITALY AND ROME IN PAETIOULAE. 

'•Since the Pope, Pius IX., was elected to the chair, he has shown an evident 
and siacere disposition to establish liberal institutions in the Roman state?. In at- 
temptiog to do this, he has met with numerous obstacles by a strong and powerful 
party called Austro-Jesuitico, which has opposed him and the people step by step. 
Notwithstanding this, such have been the good intentions of His Holiness and the 
moderate but persevering conduct of the liberal party, that tliev have succeeded in 
establishing a Council of State, not a deliberative but a consultative bodj", composed 
of twenty-tu'o members from the provinces, all, except one, laymen, and they are 
doing their work well. They have also established a Municipality composed of one 
hundred members, all laymen except two, Avhich is al-so working well; public 
schools in every town, and, finally, a civic guard of one hundred and forty thousand 
men, of which sixty thousand are now armed and disciplined. 

"The finances were found in a dreadful state, with an annual deficit of nearly 
two millions of dollars. Bribery, corruption, and despotism was the order of the 
day during the reign of Gregory XVI., and this system was supported by Austria, 
the sacred College, and the Jesuits. The determination of the people to do away 
with tijese abuses that liad produced decrepitude in the government, is now by de- 
grees being done away with, and the sympathy of the British government, com- 
municated by the British authority in Rome, confirmed and supported by Lord 
Minto, prevented the intervention of Austria, and thus give time to Italy to adopt 
means of defence, and make progress in reforms and improvements. Thus, as Pied- 
mont has become liberal, so have Tuscany and the Roman states. If time is given them, 
they can in six months, or a year at most, bring into the field an army of 150,000 
men. As the Pope, however, is pacific, and England equally so, it is to be hoped 
that Austria Avill do no more than take care of its own dominions in Lombardy, 
where great discontent exists. As for Naples, it is on the eve of a revolution which 
hitherto has baen kept down by the bayonets of 50,600 Swiss auxiliaries. The 
King does not appear disposed to save his country by timely concession?. Italy, 
therefore, is astrate requiring all the attention of the United States and other coun- 
tries who have or may have trade with it." 

The following reflections by James A. Hamilton were hastily prepared in 
Rome, and copied and delivered to a person said to be a leader of the people, 
who engaged to have them translated into Italian, printed, and circulated. 

Reflections ey a Citizen op the United States in Rome upon the Po- 
litical Condition of Italy. 
"The beneficent purposes of the Sovereign Pontiff, the permanency of reform?, 
their extension, the welfare of the people, the security of the Church and of the 
aristocracy depend, 
24 



370 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" First, Upon the trutli and sincerity of the government ; 
" Second, Upon the firmness aud moderation of the people. 
" Tliat revolutions never go backward, has become a maxim which no states- 
man can disregard. The liistory of the last half century, more pregnant with po- 
litical lessons to prince and people than any other era of the world, proves incon- 
testably that revolutions by people not prepared by previous culture in the art of 
self-government have been disastrous to the social, religious, and political system. 

" The course of tliis country was from the worst of crimes to the most cruel 
despotism in the first revolution. The second, after the people by the severest les- 
sons had learned moderatioa, was easier and better. France, Spain, the South 
American provinces stand in this category. The United States, wliose people for 
more than a century- had been learning and practicing self-government and the 
representative system, were greatly benefited by their revolution, and while its 
results afford a bright and alluring light to the nations of the world, those of the 
others are a beacon which wisdom cannot disregard. 

"Revolutions have heretofore been always attended by war, and in all cases but 
that of England and the United States, with tlie total disruption of the social aud 
and political systems. The experiment now, in its course in the United Italian states, 
is of a revolution without force by gradual and timely reforms of the political sys- 
tems, guided by wisdom and firmness on the part of the go\ernment5, and confi- 
dence and affection to the sovereigns on the part of the people. The experiment is 
one truly worthy of a Christian chieftain, and which the good and tlie wise of all 
the world look upon with admiration, and join devoutly in prayer to the autlior of 
all good for its continuance, and that it may end in securing the greatest good to the 
greatest numbers, the throne, the Church, and the people. 

These general considerations lead me almost necessarily to the contemplation of 
■the actual state of things here, and to such practical suggestions as must occur to 
•one at all conversant with free institutions. 

-" It is so manifest as to be incapable of denial or concealment, that the high dig- 
nitaries of the Church have hitherto, with perhaps hardly a single exception, been 
opposed to the course of tlie Sovereign Pontiff, aud that, if they could, they would 
recall all that has been done. Indeed, it is feared that they entertain the design, 
and have formed their plans to do so, even by force of arms. His Holiness, conse- 
quently, stands almost alone amidst his accustomed advisers, an alien to their sym- 
pathies, excluded from their confidence and entirely wanting their cooperation, if not 
exposed to their secret and malignant opposition. On the other hand, he enjoys to 
a degree not before known the affection and confidence of the people, the men of 
letters, of literary professions, of the fine arts, and a portion of the aristocracy. He 
has made the press free, he has put arms into the hands of the people, he has called 
about him a consultative body to be chosen from all the legations as the represen- 
tatives of the people. 

" Under this state of things the question arises. What can he do ; or, what could 
those who are opposed to him do, if they had the power ; and, what ought the 
people to do ? For him the answer is, " go on." To those who are opposed to him 
we say, " to go back were worse than to go on." A retrograde step would destroy 
the only safeguard of the whole system — the submission and moderation of the peo- 
ple who, being in possession of the two great engines of popular power, the press 

and the sword, could not be restrained or put down but by civil war, with aU its 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 371 

train of horrors. The answer of the people is, We will Lope— wo Avill wait— wo 
will love and confide in our Holy Father, but we are determined to achieve a mod- 
erate and temperate system of civil liberty — a system which will secure : 

First, Freedom of thought and its espression upon all subjects. This is a 
natural right of the human mind. 

Second, The right of peaceably assembling, and in respectful language stating to 
the government our grievances and their wants. This is a right and a duty which is 
taught by our religion, practiced by its holy teachers, and required of thera as a 
duty by Him to whom the obedience of all is most eminently due. It is as essen- 
tial to the governing as to the governed. Without it, the wants and grievances of 
the latter cannot be known to the former, and therefore cannot be accorded or re- 
dressed ; and, as a correlative, the government is bound to receive and give heed to 
these statements and petitions. 

" Third, That no man shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, except 
by due course of law. This is the corner-stone of the whole civil and social system. 
Without it, there can be no personal or civil liberty. It secures the rights of all. When 
acknowledged and ingrafted as a part of the Constitution, it follows that no man 
can be arreste;!, tried, or punished, except for alleged criuie or otFence against the 
known and established laws of tlie land ; that no arrest shall be made (except 
when the offender shall be taken flagrante delictti, or, as the English had it, " upon 
hue and cry," as a felon or pickpocket in the public way, upon pursuit, or when 
he shall be in the act of breaking the public peace as in a fight or brawl), except 
under a warrant founded upon a complaint or charge made in writing, under oath, 
by the accuser, which warrant shall be served by the known ofiicers of the police 
in an open and public manner ; that the accused shall, upon arrest, be taken before 
the magistrate who issued the warrant for examination, and, upon probable cause of 
guilt, be imprisoned for trial, which imprisonment shall be of a no more stringent 
character than is necessary for his appearance for trial, inasmuch as every man is 
presumed innocent until after his trial and conviction by due course of law ; and 
finally, that his trial shall be open and public, and that the witnesses against and 
for him shall be confronted by him, and examined in his presence in open court, he 
having the right of legal counsel to aid and assist him in his defence. 

This great theory being established, no man can be banished, or put to death, or 
incarcerated by way of punishment, until he sljall have been openly convicted of 
some known offence against the laws, to be ascertained by the courts, and pro- 
nounced by their adjudication and sentence. Nor can his property bo taken from 
him and appropriated to the purposes of the State, except for an offence, or given lo 
another, except according to some known and established law enacted and pro- 
nounced prior to the time of the offence, nor can the trial proceed except according 
to justice ; nor can private property be taken for public jturposes in an}- other way 
than by a system of equal taxation, or for public improvements except upon a just 
compensation to be paid to its owners. 

Fourth, That the Consulta di Stato shall be an integral part of the lawiunking 
power of the States. 

These are demands which the people ought to make, and being granted, they 
ought to be satisfied, until by time and their own advancement the true i)rinciplo8 
of civil liberty shall be understood by thera, and then a limited monarchy with a 
representative legislature, and a due infusion of the Democratic elements, so ucccs- 



372 UEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

sarj to pi'eserve the liberties of the people against the unceasing and universally 
successful encroachments of aristocracy and wealth, might be established. 

On the 17th of January, we left Eome for Naples, where we arrived on the 
18th, and took our lodgings at the Hotel " Great Britain," on the Via Reale. 
On the 20th, the Viceroy of Egypt, Ibraham Pasha, with Arabic attendants, ar- 
rived. All our intercourse was through the interpreter, who was very expert. 
We learned that his highness came to Naples to recover his health. AVe were 
invited to dine with him the next day, 24th January. The suite of the Pasha 
was large, say, ten persons — his two interpreters, his mufti, his physician and 
his wife, (who was the only lady) and others. The Pasha sat at the bead of 
the table. I was placed on his right, and one of the Effendis on my right, my 
two friends on the Pasha's left, and another Effendi on their left. The con- 
versation was principally with me. He addressed me in Arabic, which was 
immediately interpreted to me in English ; and I looking the Pasha in the face, 
replied to him in English, which was immediately rendered to him in Arabic. 
He seemed anxious to know as much about the United States as I could in- 
form him — the extent of the population, the condition of the people, the pro- 
ductions, the army, and the navy. He at length said he had heard in England 
that the union of the States would not continue long. I replied, " there was 
no foundation for such a statement, that the wish was father to the thought." 
When this was interpreted to him, he clapped his hands together, and laughed 
out. He was evidently gratified to hear what I had said, and declared that " he 
believed it was the exact truth." His inquiries were so searching that I feared 
he might run me aground. I then turned the conversation to the Nile. The 
dinner continued for a long time. He ate very sparingly, and drank nothing 
but water. After dinner, a card-table was drawn out, and we were invited to 
play whist. My two friends sat down to play with the Pasha and one of the 
Effendis. As I did not know the game, I talked with the other Effendi, who 
was intelligent and well instructed. These two brothers had been educated in 
Paris. I learned that the Pasha could neither read nor write, further than to 
sign his name. They assured me that he had commanded his father's armies 
with great success, and would have taken Constantinople if the English had not 
interfered and protected the Sultan. 

I saw him frequently at his rooms. "We walked together in the Via Reale. 
He was invited to a ball at the palace, and obtained invitations for my daughter 
and myself. We went with him. He was dressed in his military costume, 
which was rich. He walked about the room with my daughter on his arm ; he 
was, of course, an object of much attention. He had a box at the opera, pro- 
vided by the King of Naples, where wc were invited to go with him. 

A few days after my arrival at Naples, a gentleman called at the hotel and 
sent up his card " for Col. Hamilton, lately from Rome." I directed the ser- 
vant to show him up. He entered, and said, " I must beg the favor of a pri- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 373 

vate interview with you." I took him into the adjoining bed-room. He then 
said, " I have called upon you on behalf of a Committee of Liberals who direct- 
ed me to say they have been advised by their friends in Ptome of the interest 
you took in the cause of the people there, and of the various services you have 
rendered them. They sent a messenger among other things to inform us of 
your departure for this city, in the hope that you will give us here the advan- 
tage of your advice in the measures we are now taking to overturn this govern- 
ment. The Committee are now in session, and they desired me to ask the 
favor of you to accompany me to their place of meeting." I replied tliat I 
sympathized in the movements of the people of every country (as all Americans 
did) in their efforts to overturn the oppressive government to which they were 
subjected, and by which they were so sorely oppressed. That it was one thing 
to talk with gentlemen who called upon me in relation to public measures and 
modes of reform, and another thing to join a body of men who were combined 
together to overturn their government. " The inclination of my mind is to de- 
cline your invitation — however, I will take time to think of it." He then said, 
" Will you give us an answer to-morrow, and for that purpose meet a gentleman 
at the hotel * * * * *^ jjj ^[^q ^f^iQ street, at any hour most convenient to you ?"' 
I said, " I will, at ten o'clock in the morning." He then drew from his pocket- 
book a small piece of paper in the form of a heart, cut it in half, and said, 
" please to take one half of this, and the gentleman who will meet you there 
will bring with him and produce as his authorization the other half which I 
now take with me." This gentleman then told me that there was a combina- 
tion of men of intelligence and character throughout the continent of Europe, 
whose purpose it was to bring about changes of government by revolutions. 
That the students of the various universities, Pavia, Heidelberg, Vienna, and 
elsewhere were the prime movers ; that they had been engaged on this subject 
for a long time ; that they never made any communications to each other in 
writing, but always sent one of their members in whose intelligence and discre- 
tion they had entire confidence. He then rose to take leave saying, to-morrow 
at the hotel at ten o'clock.'' 

After full and anxious deliberation, I decided not to join the combination. 
I was in Naples, having received the vise of the King's Minister in Rome, and 
was now living there under the protection of his Majesty. It did not become 
me to join in a conspiracy to overturn his government. Again, I had two 
ladies, my aunt and daughter, under ray protection, and should I be arrested 
and imprisoned, or otherwise removed from them, it would be disastrous to 
them. I therefore decided not to join the committee. I wrote a letter which 
I carried with me, declinina: the invitation on the grounds above mentioned. 

I went to the hotel at the appointed hour, called for a cup of coffee and a 
newspaper, and had been sitting but a few minutes, when an Italian gentle- 
man came in who went up to the bar, got a segar, lighted it, and then moved 
round the room indifferently. At length, coming near where I was, he took out 



374 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Lis pocket-book, and from that took a piece of white paper. I did the same. 
He approached the table at which I sat, and producing our credentials, we un- 
derstood each other. He stated that he and his friends hoped I had revised my 
first impressions, and that I would go with him to their place of meeting, which 
was in the neighborhood. I repeated my determination, read the letter I had 
written, and delivered it to him, saying at the same time, " if he, or any of his 
friends would call upon me, I would be most happy to give them any advice or 
assistance in my power." He then said, " Col. Hamilton, I do not think you 
have made a wrong decision — under the same circumstances I would decide as 
you have ; now let me say to you, in confidence, that if you will be here the day 
after to-morrow, you will see the rising of the people — we are all ready to 
strike a decisive blow." I shook hands with him, wished him and his enterprise 
complete success, and told him I would be a deeply interested, and a most 
anxious witness of their movements. He said we have reason to believe the 
King will yield without striking a blow. 

On the day appointed, I went about the city before the hour. The military 
were under arms, the cannon were so placed as to sweep the streets the people 
were to pass through to the palace ; the post-ofiice and other public ofiices were 
closed and g-uarded with cannon which were shotted. I examined them. The 
people in the main streets were closing their shops. I went to the hotel, and 
hired a window with a balcony where I placed myself 

At about noon, a military oflicer of rank, attended by a few cavalry, rode 
from the palace past the hotel toward the outer part of the city, where the 
lazaroni and multitudes of people were assembled. At length, the people en 
Tiiasse came down the street on their way to the palace, shouting and waving 
small colors — the leaders on horseback (I recognized one of the gentlemen I 
had conferred with, who saluted me). This procession was close and very long. 
I saw no guns or other arms, and believed then the government arms would 
make great slaughter and ultimately prevail. 

The master of the house came to the window where I stood, and urged me 
to come in as a shot might reach me. I remained where I was until about four 
o'clock in the afternoon, when a proclamation was issued and circulated in print. 
I got a copy. The people were informed by it that the King would grant their 
requests, and give them a constitution in ten days. I returned home, ate my 
dinner, went to see the Viceroy, and related to him what I had seen. He 
was indignant at the pusillanimity of the government. 

Tiie next day, there was a grand procession through the same and other 
streets — there was a large number of carriages, all having small flags of difi"er- 
ent colored ribbons, following a band of music. 

I was struck by this fiict. The day before, when there was great danger, 
ihose who iccnt through the streets to the palace, icith a very feto exceptions, were 
the lazaroni and the laboring classes. The next day, the gentlemen, shopmen, 
and merchants joined the people in their manifestations of success. 



IIEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 375 

In the evening of the second day, I went to the theatre •witli the Viceroy 
where there was much patriotic feeling manifested by all classes. 

The Jesuits in great numbers were driven out of the kingdom. That was 
the first demand ; and it was immediately conceded and carried out, notwith- 
standing the Queen, under the influence of her confessor, a Jesuit, resisted for 
a long time. The prisons were also unbarred and the State prisoners per-, 
mitted to go at large, 

February 3(f. — Commodore F. Engle, commanding the Princeton, off Mes- 
sina, writes that the revolution commenced there on the 29th January. 
The town was bombarded from the citadel, from St. Sebastian, and from 
a steamer, for an hour and a half, commencing at half past five in the afternoon, 

with shells, shot, and grape. The soldiers fired the first shot. General 

promised Engle and Captain Codington, that he would give strangers time to 
get out with their property. This he did not do. On the 31st January, a con- 
ference was held on board H. M. Frigate Thetis. The people, elated with suc- 
cess, require a government of their own. 

February 10th. Lord Minto sailed to-day for Sicily. It is understood that 
he goes there to induce the people, who, after several hard fights against a dis- 
ciplined army in possession of all the citadels and strong places, fairly achieved 
their independence to come under the yoke of their despot with the Constitution 
he has promised, and it is said prepared, and in which his Lordship has had a 

hand. When he was told by Mr. D , an American, that to-day (February 

7th) the King was to swear to the Constitution, he replied, " I think not, it is 
not sufficiently matured." He arrived here on Saturday, and on Sunday held 
a long conference with the King. 

Here it is believed he goes on this mission without instructions, for want of 
time; and that he consequently acts upon his own responsibility. Should he 
induce those people to come in under illusory expectations, or even under a 
Constitution of which the guarantees of substantial freedom do not form a part, 
his act is unworthy of an Englishman and of his high trust. 

The revolt in Sicily is a mean, and there is the opportunity, of securing to 
this country a well-balanced and secured constitutional government which 
would not only free them from the despotism by which they have been ground 
down ; but it would be of service to the party of temperate reform throughout 
Italy and England. We must await the result. 

February Ibth. Called on the Viceroy Ibraham Pasha, to take leave. He 
expressed great regret at parting with me, and said, " If I live, I shall succeed 
ray father as King of Egypt. I wish you to promise me that, in that event, 
you will come to Alexandria, not only to make me a visit, but to be my guest. 
He shook my hand and embraced me witli much, warmth. Although unlettered, 
he has acquired extensive knowledge of various countries, and has great good 
sense and good purposes. 

February 15tJi. Left Naples for Milan and Venice, and thence to Vienna.. 



37G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

March Wth. Arrived at Vienna in the evening, went to the hotel " Golden 
Lamb " outside of the walls of the city. Driving through the suburbs, a com- 
pany of infantry were practicing with their muskets how to use the bayonet. 

March 12th. Went to the palace where I saw the Emperor Ferdinand 
returning from church with his suite. He looked idiotic. Not long after this, 
in fact, he showed unmistakable symptoms of insanity. After the revolution 
he abdicated, and went to Rome where one day, at dinner, he washed his face 
in his soup plate. 

I quote from my note-book : 

Vienna lievolution, March loth. I crossed the Prater, and went into the city 
through the gate which leads into the main street and to the Cathedral, at about 
twelve o'clock. Many people were anxiously looking and running about. The 
mercers were shutting up their shops. I went into some that were open, 
talked with the people there and with others in the street. The cry was, 
" Revolution." The students had gone to the palace to demand reforms. The 
dragoons and infantry were passing to and fro, and the people, men and women, 
were rapidly passing through the streets in great alarm. I met a gentleman 
who, hearing my inquiries in French and English, stopped and told me " the 
military having been drawn up in front of the palace, had loaded their muskets 
in the presence of the people assembled there to ask for reforms. That this 
was intended to intimidate the people. It really excited them as an open 
expression of hostility on the part of the government." 

I went to my bankers to get money, in order to meet all contingencies. 
He told me that as the council were to assemble to-day, the students had gone 
in a body to Prince Metternich to demand reforms, such as the freedom of the 
press, civic guard, &c., to which he had given no answer. Returning home, I 
found the soldiers drawn up in line in front of their barracks. I heard an 
officer charge the troops to allow none but the military to go into the city, 
but to let the people go out. Carriages were turned off to go to another gate. 
I went to my hotel, and having put my money away, went out again in order 
to go into the city. Having been refused entrance at the gate near the Golden 
Lamb Hotel, I went to another which was closed ; but upon application to the 
officer to allow me to pass, being a traveller, he sent a soldier with me to order 
the gate to be opened which was done and immediately closed. I walked to 
different parts of the city, and again- returned home ; but hearing some noise, 
I went into the city again and passing up the same street to the Hoff (Place), 
I found that the people were endeavoring with pieces of timber to break 
through the door of a house called the Palace of Justice. I got on the top of 
a stone railing about a fountain in the centre of the Hoff, where I could see all 
that was going on. A man next me who could speak English recognized me 
as an American. A young man climbed up a pillar to the balcony over the 
door, on which was placed a statue of Justice, with scales hanging from her 
Land. He broke the scales off, came down, harangued the people, marching 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 377 

round the Hoff, then threw the scales on the ground, stamped upon them, and 
said in a very loud voice, " A Mockery of Justice." This excited much animation 
and loud cheers. At length the door was forced. The leader was a very lar^^e 
man, in his shirt-sleeves. He and the others went into the house. At this 
moment, a platoon of soldiers came into the Hoff opposite to the Palace of Justice. 
As soon as the cry was uttered " Soldiers ! " the people in the house rushed out. 
The soldiers advanced to the door, one of them seized the leader who shook- 
him off with ease, and another soldier plunged his bayonet in his body. Tiie 
wounded man leaped from the ground, fell on his back, and Avas pierced to 
death. A shot was fired into the crowd which wounded a man who va(s ntar 
where I stood. This man, lying on the ground bleeding, I propcfted to my 
neighbor to go to him to see what we could do for him ; he said, "■ No ! don't 
do so, they will shoot you." I determined that I was exposed to great danger, 
and looking at my watch, found it was time to go to dinner, which I did. 

Having related to two American gentlemen who dined with me what I 
had heard and seen, at about nine o'clock the same evening, there being much 
noise in the city and a fine moon-light night, I proposed to go into the city 
again, which I did, accompanied by one of the gentlemen. We found the city 
illuminated. This was done by the people because they feared the police would 
cut off the gas. We passed the house that had been assailed in the afternoon. 
The soldiers were there on guard. Attracted by a great noise, wc went to a 
street about five hundred yards from the first place, and there found the people 
engaged with much greater animation in endeavoring to break into the police 
head-quarters. This was continued in despite of the military, who from time 
to time fired shots, by which three persons were killed. The assault was not- 
withstanding continued. We left this place to find the arsenal ; which it was 
said the students had gone to break open, in order to get arms. On our way 
we heard a crier announcing, " Prince Metteruich lias abdicated ! " To this 
the people cried, "That is not enough." The Prince had gone oiF secretly in 
the morning. 

Seeking the arsenal, we met a procession of the students, with white badges 
on their hats and arms, in files of two, going up to a table where three magis- 
trates were sitting, to sign their names to a paper which was to enroll a civic 
guard. They were to receive arms from the Government; that they might 
preserve the peace and protect the people of the city — thus was the work ended 
for the day. Metternich had resigned, and the Emperor had promised reform. 

I went the next day to the Hoff, and to the place where the man was shot, 
within ten yards of where I stood. There was a pool of blood on the flaggiug. 
and below it was written, " This is due to Metternich." 

The gate of the city where the duties were collected was torn down, ns M'crc 
the gates of Metternich's villa — the former was burned. A police oflicer who 
fired, or threatened to fire, upon the people, was taken up by the mob, thrown 
into the flames and burned to death. At another place in the suburbs, the 



378 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

people killed two priests, said to be Jesuits. On the 16th and 17 Lh, the riots 
continued in the suburbs, "where the manufactories were attacked and fired. 
Six hundred of these people were made prisoners in one night by the new civic 
guard. 

The Hungarians came to the city in military array, and encamped outside 
the walls near our hotel. It was understood that they were advised of the day 
,tT:hen the people would rise; and that they came to the city to assist them. 
Tlie promised submission of the Grovernment rendered this unnecessary. A 
Coi cordat has just been concluded between the Pope and Austria. Hilde- 
br.:in ., vor Pope Innocent, could hardly have asked more than is thus granted 
to Pio "Jo. 0, who is in part supported by Austrian money. 

The foiry of the offerings made to Papal authority by the first Emperor, 
the " Placidium Regium," which gave to the Austrian Emperors a coordinate 
authority ; such as has always been enforced by the French sovereigns, and all 
but the weak English sovereigns, is forever abolished. First, The bishops 
throughout the Austrian States will now be invested with rights, which, sup- 
ported by the civil power, will bring every citizen completely under ecclesias- 
tical rule. The bishops may combine separately, or as a body, with the Pope, 
the clergy, and the people. They may divide livings, publish spiritual rescripts, 
and prohibit dangerous books. They are to watch over religious instruction in 
all public and private schools (so that no parent will be able to prevent constant 
interference with the education of his child). No one may teach theology or 
canonical law without their pei-mission. The decrees of the Council of Trent 
are to be received. Clerical matters will be removed from civil control : even 
small causes will be judged by the clergy, except so far as they involve 
questions of property. One article has greatly disturbed the priesthood : the 
bishops are to have full right to punish the clergy who may off"end against the 
discipline of the Church. The bishops will give their account on every present- 
ation of new prelates to the Papal chair. No s-.le of Church property can take 
place without the consent of the Pope. New monasteries may at any time be 
established by the bishops. Finally, all matters not especially referred to in 
the Concordat, are to be decided according to the doctrines of the Church. 

This Concordat proves how much power there is where we only see atrophy 
and decay. How real are the dangers where we only see the shadows of the 
past. 

Left Vienna March 16th, for Dresden, by Ratisbon and Gorlitz. The whole 
of the Western Continent was shaken, as with an earthquake. I seemed to be 
swept along by a revolutionary tornado. 

On my way to Gorlitz, I met Mr. Hopp, a missionary from the English 
society who had been established at Crakow, whence he was driven after 
Austria took possession of that city; no religion being tolerated there as in 
Austria, except the Roman Catholic. He stated that the education of all 
classes and ages was committed to the priests of that Church ; that Protestants 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 379 

could not be christened, married, or buried, -without first obtaining a certificate 
from a Catholic priest, for which they were compelled to pay a considerable 
fee. The mass of the people belong to the soil ; they arc very ignorant and 
much oppressed. The crop of potatoes had failed, and there v/as much distress 
among the peasantry. This gentleman spoke English tolerably, and seemed' to 
be well informed. He said the Ptou2e movement had failed because the 
Christians of all classes could not tolerate its heresies. He denied the Apos- 
tolic succession, the divinity of Christ, and the Trinity; in short, he was a 
Unitarian. 

March ISth. — Arrived at Dresden. Here we learned that at Prague the 
people had demanded a change of the Governor, He replied that he would 
send their demands to the Emperor, and asked them to wait a few days for his 
answer ; when, if it was not satisfactory, he would resign. 

Dresden. — The people four days ago made a movement. They went to an 
old es-Miuister, who lives at * * * * j presented their demands to him, to be 
by him presented to the King. He said he entirely agreed with them, that he 
could not write to the King, as he was not a Minister, but would address a let- 
ter to one who would show it to the King. This was done, and the King dis- 
missed his ministers, putting in their places four men of the popular party, and 
by a proclamation promised all they asked, so that all revolutionary proceed- 
ings are believed to be finished here. 

March Idfh. — Met Mr. Forbes, English Minister (Saxony) and Sir Robert 
Keith Arbuthnot at Mrs, Costar's. They made anxious inquiries as to the re- 
volutionary movements I had witnessed. On the 20th dined with Sir Robert. 
Frederick Augustus V., King of Saxony, is unambitious and virtuous, but not 
wise. He yielded upon the first hostilities (under the advice of a Minister 
who was devoted to Prussia) to all the demands of his people. A free Consti- 
tutional Monarchy is to be established. The population is 1,750,000 ; debt, 
twenty-two millions thalers; revenue, five millions seven hundred thousand 
thalers ; the army, sixteen thousand men. The people own the land. 

I learned here that Frederick William IV., King of Prussia, at first abso- 
lutely refused to make concessions ; that there was a severe conflict in the 
streets of Berlin, in which about one hundred citizens were slaughtered. The 
soldiers remained faithful. It was here represented to me by one of the cx- 
Ministers of Prussia who had fled, that they might have put the people down, 
but that the King, to save the blood of his people, had yielded every thing, 
without knowing what he did. This glorious result will probably give to Ger- 
many a popular Constitution and a consolidated federal government. The 
probability is, that there will be a Confederation of the States of Germany with 
a Diet of two Houses, one elected by, and the representatives of, the people. 
Austria will be broken up ; she must become a power of lower rank. Hungary, 
Gallicia, Ravenna, and Lombardy will go off from her, 

Mr. Forbes, the English Minister, told me with much exultation that tht) 



380 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

King of Hanover had refused concessions, and that he would hold out like a man 
(he was an English prince). He did refuse at first, but did not hold out, fear- 
ing the consequences : he, like the rest, has yielded — a free press, civic guard, 
trial by jury, and a popular representation ; in short, all that was required, 
and, in doing so, has acted like a man of sense. He went to his Diet, and de- 
clared he would grant all they required ; and that he had taken this course 
without consulting his ministers. They were dismissed, and his former men 
restored. 

The King of Bavaria, anticipating the necessity for a change, yielded al- 
most without a demand. He had been admonished, by the tumults against 
Lola Montes, of the power of the people, and probably by his promptitude 
secured his throne. His connection with that woman who had entire control 
over him was highly offensive to his people. 

March 2oth, Amsterdam. — The elder Mr. Crommlier called upon me. In 
the course of our conversation, he mentioned that the recoinage which is in 
progress costs the government, owing to the much-used coin and the sweating 
process by a certain class of men, eight or ten millions of guilders. The de- 
basement of the old coin resulted from the fact that the different States of the 
Kingdom at one time possessed the power of making their own coin ; and that 
one of them * ^ ^^ * , when called upon to ^^y ffty-tu'O millions, paid in a coin 
which was really worth only fifty millions, and insisted, in spite of all remon- 
strance, that it should pass for fifty-two. Remembering well the remarks made 
to me here at a company of bankers, in 1842, on the subject of the repudiation 
by some of our States, I remarked, " that was as bad as repudiation." 

The bankers of Holland, England, and France have made a great outcry 
against the repudiation of some of the States of the United States (and very 
deservedly), and yet the history of these Kingdoms shows that, under a far less 
Dccessity, they have taken measures which were as gross a violation of public 
faith as repudiation, even of Mississippi. 

England, from 1797 until 1825, paid the interest on her public debt in Bank 
of England notes, which were not convertible, and whicli were actually depre- 
ciated 25 per cent. The foreign holders of her debt were so paid, as well as 
her own subjects ; that is to say, she paid 4 per cent, by only paying 3 per cent. 

Holland has a debt now on which she pays no interest whatever ; this is, 
in fact, repudiation. 

France repudiated her debt during the revolution of 1793. 

There are three millions six hundred thousand people in Holland. Food is 
dear ; beef sells in market for about two francs a pound, and to grind a bushel 
of Indian corn would cost its value here. 

In 1833, the total of cultivated land in Holland, exclusive of Limburg and 
-Luxemburg, was 5,300,000 acres, and two millions of uncultivated. There are 
nine thousand windmills in Holland, used for draining land. The water is in 
some places lifted twenty to twenty-five feet. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 381 

In North Holland, there arc eighty poulders, comprismg upward of 150,000 
acres. All the water is pumped into the Schermcr Boizein. A poulder is a 
tract of land generally below the low water level of the adjoining sea or river 
surrounded by a dyke, and only kept dry by artificial pumping. 

In 1230, one hundred thousand people perished in Friesland by the over- 
flowing of the Zuyder Sea. The foundation of a large dyke is from 120 to 
150 feet wide. It is usually cased with stone from Norway. Of that at West 
Capelle, in the island of Watcheren, it is said if it had been originally of solid 
copper the expense would have been less than to keep it in repair. 

Haarlem Sea. — The work of draining this sea was begun in 1840, by mak- 
ing a ring canal. Three monster engines are to be erected at different points 
which will lay the lake dry in fourteen months by incessant pumping, at a cost 
of, for machinery and labor, of £140,000 or about $700,000. The expense 
of making the dykes and engines after the water is drawn out to keep it 
dry, will be £5,000 per annum. The land to be made dry for cultivation is from 
50,000 to 70,000 acres. The cost at the lowest estimate will be three pounds 
sterling an acre, or $15. The best land in the United States can be purchased 
for one and a quarter dollars an acre. If the area is seventy sc[uare miles, 
there will be 42,800 acres added to the arable land. These three engines arc 
to draw out one thousand millions of tons of water, and to do the work of one 
hundred and fourteen h.\^\ wind-mills. One of these engines has been erected 
and tried (1848) at the south extremity of the lake near Leydcn. The annual 
draining is calculated at fifty -four millions of tons. 

Edinburgh Review, October 1857, ^>. 438. — " Let Holland depend upon Eng- 
land and Belgium for the coal which is to diy her poulders. Let ISTorway, and 
Russia, and Belgium, and the United States of America depend upon the English 
markets for the sale of their timber, hemp, flax, and cotton; let England depend 
upon Paissia. Germany, and America for her deficient corn, and upon the world at 
large for the outlets to her manufactories." 

This is the most selfish and audacious proposition that could be made. It 
would have been as well to have said, let all the world engage in raising for us 
the raw material (of course, to be purchased at our own price), and be depend- 
ent upon us for their manufactures, to be purchased at our price. 

Ask her statesmen what is to be for a series of years, "her deficient corn " 
and they will say, not a bushel. But suppose they say one million of quarters, 
what proportion of that could the United States furnish in competition with llus- 
sia, Germany, the Black Sea? These are fine sounding theories, and if Eng- 
land can deceive these nations with them, let her do so. 

Extract from my Note-Book, 

Anttverp. Police in Holland. 1848. — In no country in which we liavo been, 
is there such an annoying strictness to travellers as here. I was called upon at 
the hotel to make a declaration in writing of my ago, birth-place, place of resi- 
dence, whence I had come, whither I was going, whom I knew, why I had come, 



382 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

vehere I staid, what documents I had, and after this I was told I must present 
my passport in person to the police head-quarters, which I did. 

Paris. — Arrived April 3d, 1848, in the evening. Hotel Maurice. The fol- 
lowing are incidents of the revolution, related to me by a gentleman who was 
an eye-witness. He was living on the Boulevard near Port St. Martin, he 
wished to put his letters in the post-office, but could not get any body to take 
them, and went early in the morning himself; returning, he went to the Palace 
which had been taken possession of by the people the afternoon before, at five 
o'clock. He passed through all the rooms except the private apartments, at 
the entrance to which a sentinel in a blouse was placed, who told him he could 
not cuter. None could go in unless they were armed. " Well," he said, " lend 
me your gun for the occasion, and I will give 3'ou five francs." The sentinel 
agreed, he shouldered the musket, and went through all the apartments where 
were the clothes of the fiimily as they had left them in their flight. In the cel- 
lar, there was a large store of poultry, which the guards ordered the cooks, 
whom they would not allow to go out, to dress for them, and he found them 
busily engaged in doing so. The soldiers told the cooks, " you are paid by the 
people, and you must work for the people." 

I saw under the window of my room, a Colonel of the lancers pressing upon 
the people. One of the latter took up the hind leg of the horse which threw 
the horse down with his rider, who lost his sword and was thus disarmed, the 
horse was then mounted by a woman, who broke the sword, and cheered on the 
people. Before my rooms, a barricade was built by the people of the trees 
which were cut down from the side-walks, with iron railings and stones from 
the streets. It was done quietly. The only words heard were, now and then a 
joke, and, "make haste!" "make haste." The people broke open the gunsmiths' 
shops for arms. The door of one was so fixsteued that they could not force it; 
they took an omnibus of which they made a battering ram, which at the second 
blow forced the casing and all away. They went also to the bakers, not to get 
bread, but to get fire wood for arms, which I saw used most efiectually at one 
of the military casernes. The people who had been taken were held as prison- 
ers. The mob demanded their release. It was refused. They pi'cssed on. the 
soldiers fired upon them, but after they discharged their muskets, the people 
fell on the soldiers, beating them with the wood, took their arms, and discharg- 
ed the prisoners. 

At the Tuileries was this placard in the window iii French, " A chamber to 
let." All the royal carriages wei'e taken, put in a line, and burned. He then 
saw the carriage which was lined with boiler iron, and handled it ; there is no 
doubt it was so arranged in order to protect the King Louis Philippe from mus- 
ket balls. 

He saw the people carrying the throne taken from the Tuileries in proces- 
sion, amid gibes and jests, to the Boulevard where they burned it. Then, they 
went to the Chamber of Deputies, where there was a discussion as to who 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 383 

should be regent, involving the rights of the throne. The mob who entered 
said, " It is unnecessary to discuss the rights of the throne, we have decided all 
that, having thrown the throne out of the window, and burned it," and thus 
the sitting of the deputies was ended. 

When Louis Philippe came out of the Tuileries, the officer in command of 
the escort cried out, " Let the unfortunate one pass." The people replied, 
" Yes, we are not murderers, let him pass, let him go, the sooner the better, 
his term is ended. "We do not desire his services any longer." Guizot got oVer 
a wall and escaped in the dress of a footman. It was said that of the King's 
family no one manifested more firmness and courage than Madame Adelaide. 
One of the King's sons fled, leaving his wife to find her way out of the city on 

foot. met her, and took her to Rouen, whence she went safely to 

England. 

I met at a private house a young nobleman ; this was after the blouses had 
the control of the city, and before the government of Lamartine brought back 
the army. He told me he and all others recollecting the scenes of 1793, escaped 
the best way they could. lie got up a chimney. 

At the Palais Royal I saw a body of armed blouses go into the restau- 
rant ; they brought out the cooks, insisting that they should not cook for the 
aristocrats. I spoke to the leader, saying, " I am an American (which on sev- 
eral occasions gave me a willing ear) ; we in the United States believe that the 
liberty of the people secures to every man the right to work for whom he 
pleases." 

During the revolution, the names of the streets were changed so as to ex- 
press popular ideas. 

Frequently you meet processions of the blouses carrying a tree (or part of 
one) attended by a priest and music. After planting the tree of liberty, the 
priest would bless it, and the people would dance around it, and celebrate the 
act by loud cries of " Liberty and equality." 

The railroads were interrupted. An American lady left Paris to go to 
England, but was compelled to return and remain, almost without funds. 

The Banks suspended specie payments, and .their notes were vcr3' much 
depreciated. Bills drawn on London were paid in gold, which was brought to 
Paris by special messengers, and delivered to the drawer. 

It was at one time reported that the city would be sacked, and tliat the first 
attack would be made upon the hotels and the strangers who were there. Mr. 
Rush, the American Minister, was called upon by Captain B * * * who had 
been an officer in the American army. He came on behalf of the Provisional 
Government to know whether he, as Minister, in the name of his government 
would recognize the Provisional Government. His reply was, " Certainly, if 
they ask me to do so." The captain would report that answer. It was con- 
sidered by him as of vast importance, particularly in the preservation of order, 
that it should be recognized by the United States. 



384 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Captain 13 * * * returned saying, " It did not become the Government 
to request its recognition." Mr. Rush replied that he would communicate his 
recognition in writing ; his course was decided by the practice of his Govern- 
ment to recognize the de facto Government. Ilis communication was framed, 
as he stated to me, upon what had been done during the administration of Gen- 
eral Washington. This was an event of marked importance. It was gratifying 
to the people ; and tended to induce order as well as to give stability. Shortly 
afterward, the army which had been withdrawn from the city to avoid a col- 
lision, was brought back attended by a jubilation. 

In the mouth of May following, IMr. Rush having received a commission 
from his Government as Minister to the Republic of France, communicated 
this event to the Provisional Government at the Hotel de Ville, and made a 
proper address. 

Measures were taken by the Provisional Government to form a Constitution, 
by ordering an election of delegates to a Convention by the people in their re- 
spective districts. In anticipation of this election, various meetings were held in 
Paris, some of which I attended. The speeches were amusing ; many of them 
quite absurd. The Constitution of the United States was proposed as a modeh 
The most efficient objection to this was, that " the French people must have 
something new ; it did not become them to adopt that or any other existing 
form of government." Another and most conclusive objection was that " it 
established slavery in all the States." 

I was called upon by George W. Lafayette (the son of General Lafayette), 
with two other French gentlemen, introduced by Mr. C, a resident of Paris. 
The object of this visit was to retpe.st me to prepare a form of Constitution 
for France by remodelling the Constitution of the United States, so as to adapt 
it to the condition of the people of France. In reply I expressed an unaf- 
fected conviction that I had not the knowledge or ability for such a work : this 
would not do. They uro;ed me most earnestly to make the attempt, to which 
I reluctantly consented. I called upon Mr. Rush to obtain a copy of the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and of the Federalist, if ho had one. He sent 
me both, with a note asking me to take great care of the Federalist, as it was 
a copy given to him by Mr. Jefferson, with the appropriation of the authorship 
of the various members by Mr. Madison. 

Earnestly desiring to render any service in my 'power to the son of the 
illustrious General Lafayette, and also to promote the welfare of the people of 
France, I endeavored to form a Constitution for France, by such alterations of 
the Constitution of the United States as I believed would be judicious. 

Having sent to Lafayette the draft Constitution, I prepared the following 
four resolutions : 

" Eesolved, 1st, That the only Constitution of Government which this Assembly 
can establish, is a Representative Republican Government, based upon the ouly true 
foundation of all governments, the will of the people. 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 385 

" Resolved., 2d, That the legislative power of France shall be vested in a Nation- 
al Legislature, to consist of two chambers, a Senate and House of Eepresentatives. 

" Resolved, 3d. That the executive power of France shall be vested in a Chief 
President, to be elected by the people for a fixed terra, and whose salary shall be 
determiaed by law, and shall not be increased or diminished during his term of 
oflBce. 

" Resolved, 4th. That the judiciary of France shall consist of a Supreme Court 
and such other inferior Courts as may be establislied by law, and that the judges 
thereof be appointed for life, or during good behavior, to receive a salary to be de- 
termined by law, not to be diminished during tijeir term of office." 

James A. Hamilton to Mons. George W. Lafayette. 

" Paeis, April 25, 1848. 

" Dear Sir : I sent to you through our friend Mr. 0. the draft of the adaptation 
of the Constitution of the United States to the actual condition of France. If it 
will be of service to you in your high duties use it, if not, destroy it. It is the offer- 
ing of my devotion to Eepublican institutions, and my desire at all times and under 
all circumstances to devote myself to the service of my race ; whose progress in 
knowledge and increased happiness, wisdom and virtue, is inevitable. The extension 
of the Christian religion, and the principles of social, political and religious liberty 
will (be assured,) do their work; and it is upon these that I always place my hopes, 
however untoward the actual circumstances may be, that the greatest good of the 
greatest number will be the sole aim and end of all governments. 

"It is at the same time eminently the duty of every one, however humble hia 
sphere, to aid in promoting the success of this great Avork, and in tluit spirit I com- 
mend this paper to your hands. 

" I have drawn up a series of resolutions (which I now enclose) such as I would 
propose to the Convention were I a member of that body. My purpose would be to 
confine that assembly to the discussion of great principles, stripped of all details, 
upon wliich they ought to decide before another step is taken. If a majority should 
decide to have a single executive and a legislature of two chambers, with an inde- 
pendent judiciary, a form of government founded upon the popular will will be 
established, whatever may be its details, which will be permanent, and by future 
changes may be made more perfect. If, on the otlier hand, a plural executive, a 
single chamber and an elective temporary judiciary should be decided upon, tlio 
future of France will be very doubtful. This, I believe, is the language of experi- 
ence, which is the best oracle of truth. 

"The advantage of placing these great leading and decisive principles before 
your Convention distinctly and without details, is that the discussion will thus bo, 
in a measure, limited; that clear ideas will be presented to tlie minds of tlic mem- 
bers upon which they can decide without being perplexed witli the fruits of ingen- 
ious sophism to which details give scope, and above all, should you be enabled by 
an early and decisive vote to induce their adoption, you would shut out a tliousand 
projects; for it may be truly said, that at this moment France is a great laboratory 
of constitutions, where the fertility of ideas for which your countrymen arc so re- 
.raarkable, will produce some wise but a great many absurd projects, all claiming to 
have an equal right to consideration. And it is to be remarked that the longer tlic 
25 



3SG llEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

discussion is delayed, the more numerous will be tliesc projects and the greater dan- 
ger will there be of the members becoming divided into factions, and of being sub- 
jected to improper influences. That assembly, although it may be made wiser by 
discussion, will never be as pure and patriotic as at the first moment it assembles. 
Without giving the reasons for this opinion I invite your attention to it, and hope 
your course will be influenced by the tonviction of its truth. 

"Your chance of forming a wise constitution, or one at all, is much impaired by 
the fact that the National Assembly is to be not only a convention for forming a 
Constitution, but a general legislative body for the State. I say it is to be, because in 
lookin"- at the ' decree ' of the Provisional Government under which the election 
was made, it seems not to have been so intended, and in our country would most 
certainly not be so considered. On the contrary, having been elected under that 
' decree ' we should consider the people as having chosen this body as their repre- 
sentative for the sole purpose of making and ordaining a Constitution, and that the 
power of legislation, if assumed, would be a gross usurpation. 

" The words of the decree of the 26th March, 1848, are ' pour eleve les represen- 
tants du peuple h I'assembl^e national, qui doit decreter la constitution.'' 

"A further view of this subject presents itself to my mind, which I will briefly 
state. The Provisional Government constituted by the people of Paris, and adopted 
by the people of France, is the existing valid Government ; and there is no other : 
and as there is no period to which its existence is limited, there exists no power or 
means of superseding or destroying it but one, that indicated by this arrete, and that 
is by the promulgation of a Constitution by a National Assembly. When that Con- 
stitution is put into action, the existing Government ceases to exist, but not until 

then. 

" The National Assembly having been elected to make a Government for, is not 
the Government of, France, and justly considered, would have no power to consider 
itself such; nor can the Provisional Government so coustitute it; nor can the mem- 
bers of the Provisional Government, by giving up their powers, destroy that Govern- 
ment. It can only cease to exist by the will of the people expressed through their 
repi-esentatives in the manner pointed out by the decreance of a Constitution. This 
is most certainly the view we should take of this subject. However, inasmuch as 
it seems to be understood that you are to legislate upon all subjects to which an 
ordinary legislature can give its attention, we must take the thing as it is, but at the 
same time, watch it closely; recollecting that the enjoyment of power like the appe- 
■•tite of jealousy, ' grows by what it feeds on,' and that the longer that assembly shall 
enjoy the exercises of the executive and legislative functions of Government (which 
they must possess as soon as the Provisional Government lays down its power, as it 
intends to do), although legitimately and constitutionally speaking, it has no power 
to do so ; for a government formed by the people can only be changed or destroyed 
by the people. This necessarily results from the great principle, that ' the only true 
foundation of all Governments is the popular will,' the more diflicult will it be for 
them to part with it, and the greater probability will there be that ambitious men 
will use its patronage to corrupt its members, and thus through their influence will 
the members be divided into parties and factions — as you soon must be — to secure to 
themselves the whole power and Government of the country. When this shall be 
so, the same men will have no difliculty in defeating any project of Government 
.which may be presented to the Assembly, however wise and liberal it may be. "With 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 387 

all my confidence in the wise clioice the people have made, these views press upon 
my attention with melancholy forebodings. 

"I wish a majority of that body could be persuaded of the grave consequencea 
not to France, not to Europe alone, but to the human race, which attend upon their 
course. Let them be assured that the fate of Kepublican iustitutions in Europe, 
for at least this generation, is in their hands ; that if men ever had a great motive 
for moderation, wisdom, and patriotism, they have it ; and if they should be found 
unworthy of the great mission, endless disgrace will follow them, and the interests 
and progress of the human family will be retarded for ages. It is quite impossible 
to express tbe responsibility of this great Assembly to France and to the world. 
As a Republican and as a man, I hope for, and will rejoice in a successful issue to 
your labors. I know what your course will be, and thank you for it in advance. 
"With great respect and regard, your friend, &c. 

" James A. Hamiltox." 

I was requested by a French gentleman wliom I had known in the United 
States, to prepare for a member of the Provisional Government a plan of fin- 
ance for France, which I did, and communicated to him the following "Hints:" 

HINTS OF A PLAN WHICH MAY RELIEVE THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL, 
AND FISCAL DIFFICULTIES OF FRANCE. 

" First. Authorize the Bank of France to issue notes of the denomination of 
twenty francs. 

'■'Second. The Provisional Government to issue Treasury Notes of 20, 50, and 
100 francs, payable to bearer, without interest. 

" Third. To issue Treasury Notes of the denomination of 500 francs and up- 
wards, bearing interest at six or seven or eight fc per annum. The fiirst rate would be 
suflBcient. 

" Fourth. All the Treasury Notes to be secured by a sacred and inviolate pledge, 
1st, of all the public property of France moveable and immovable ; and 2nd, of 
all the individual property. The first to be sold as may be required to meet the 
payment of these notes ; and when that shall be exhausted, then the private proper- 
ty to be reached by taxation, and applied to the payment of these notes. 

" Fifth. The Treasury Notes to be a legal tender, to be received in payment of 
all taxes, duties excises and imposts, with the right to the holders to exchange 
thern at par fur public stock, (at any time within one year) to bear the like rate of 
interest and not reimbursable in less than twenty years. 

"Note. — The great necessity of France is confidence and circulation. 

"The first is growing and will be restored as soon as the Provisional Government 
shall by its energetic measures already commenced, prove that it exercises a solid 
power large enough to preserve public order. 

" To give employment to the people, let the Government engage witli the master 
manufacturers and artisans, if they will go on witli their works, to pay them any loss 
which may accrue to them by their operatives, conducted under the direction of their 
masters, and under the superintendence of the Government Agents ; settlemenf:s to 
be made monthly, and advances to be made in Treasury notes if necessary, to pay 
the operatives. No support to be given to able-bodied workmen after the first day 
of May nest, from the public treasury. 



388 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" These measra-es will certainly tend to give confidence in the preservation of 
public order. 

" The circulation which was formerly essentially in silver will be supplied by 
these notes, and in a very short time, those who have hoarded the precious metals 
will be rejoiced to reproduce and invest them in the Treasury Notes bearing so high 
a rate of interest and so abundantly secured. 

" Every man of property will see that liis iuterest is engaged in supporting the 
public credit, and reviving private confidence, when he knows that his individual 
property is bound for, and will be applied to the payment of the debts of the Gov- 
ernment ; Avhich will be increased or diminished by the promptitude or delay of 
the time at which such public or private confidence shall be restored. 

" It is as clearly the right as it is the duty of the Provisional Government to 
pledge, nay to apply all the property of the country to the payment of its debts. 
Every citizen has expressly or impliedly pledged his life, and fortune, and honor to 
hiscouniry. J- A. Hamilton. 

Paeis, April 7, 1848. 

The following letter was written by a gentleman who had been elected a 
member of the Convention to form a Constitution for France, and who asked 
to see what I had proposed. It was sent to him. It is not inserted here, 
because it is not esteemed worthy of consideration. 

"DeaeSie: I had not a moment yesterday to write a few words, as I should 
have wished, in sending you back your project, you had the goodness to send me 
with your note of the ISth, I am hapi^y to see the good feelings you express for my 
native land, and grateful for those you testify towards me. 

" So far as a very hasty perusal could enable me to judge, I am convinced you 
have judiciously selected from the Constitution of the United States what could 
best be adapted to France. 

James A. Hamilton to Senor Gaetano de Castillea. 

" Hotel Meueice, Paeis, April 7, 1848. 

"Deae Sie: Kecurring, as I always do, to the pleasure derived from your ac- 
quaintance at Milan, I beg, in this form, to renew it ; and, in doing so, to congratulate 
vou upon the heroic resistance you liave made to the oppressors of your beautiful 
country. The moderation of all the peojdes who have risen, and who have to 
assert the rights of humanity, has proved that they are worthy of liberty. And I 
rejoice to say, nowhere has that been more conspicuous or praiseworthy than at 
Milan ; where the duration and severity of the conflict with the unexampled tyranny 
to which they had been subject would most naturally have excited a resentment, 
difiicult if not impossible to be restrained. 

" What your future is to be, no one, I presume, can conjecture. I fear the people 
of no part of Italy are as yet ready for Pepuldican institutions. The fir?t and best 
step to that condition of self-government would perhaps be a limited Constitutional 
Monarchy. 

" I ought not to intrude my opinions, which at best would not be deserving of much 
consideration ; but allow me to suggest that in the Federalist, a work published in 



REMINrSCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 389 

1788, in the United States, Avill be found more wisdom and a better examination of 
the history of governments and their true principles than in any worlc I know. If 
it were translated and publislied in a form most accessible to the people a "-reat 
public benefit would be conferred. It is our text book, and lias been denominated 
by ' Blackwood's ' the ' Bible of Republicans.' 

"I remain, sincerely your friend, and obedient servant, &c." 

"Should you reply, address your letter to me under cover to Messrs. Baring 
Bros. & Co., London." 

Left Paris for England, 27th April, 1848. Anticipating a popular outbreak 
in London, the Government removed the Queen from London to the Isle of 
Wight, and placed there a military force of 5,000 men to protect her Majesty. 
At the Marlborough Police-office, the Duke of Norfolk with several other noble- 
men and vast numbers of citizens were enrolled as special constables to overawe 
the Chartists, who at one time assembled in great numbers in the suburbs of the 
city with the intention of presenting their petition to Parliament. 

The Duke of "Wellington did not intend to use his military powers as had 
been done elsewhere without success in the streets behind barricades. But he 
despatched numerous letters to the householders in streets where the insur- 
gents were to pass on the way to the Parliament House, asking the favor to 
give him permission to place a few friends in the upper stories of their houses; 
the soldiers thus placed being without the reach of the j)eople, while they 
could be firing down upon them mercilessly. This clever stratagem was suc- 
cessful. The petitioners dispersed, to avoid such an unequal conflict. 

Geokge Sumner to James A. Hamilton'. 

"Pakis, June 1, 1848. 

"Mt Dear Sir : Your letter of the 2Ttli from Edinburgh reached me yesterdny. 
I have only a moment now before the closing of the mail which takes the American 
letters, and I employ that to thank you. Everything is going on w'ell in Paris. 
The affair of the loth was fortunate in this sense, that it cleared the political atmos- 
phere of many dangerous elements, and that it shewed that a few cmzy or factious 
fanatics are nothing against an Assembly which, although composed of feeble men, 
reposes upon universal suffrage. I say feeble men, and yet it is perhaps a hasty 
judgment, for no questions of vital importance have, as yet, come before them, and 
among the large number who have given a negative proof of intelligence, by holding 
their tongues, there may be other Mirabeaus who bide their time. You will have 
seen the division into Bureaux and Committees. It is in these Committees that tlio 
real work is going on, and will cintinue for about two weeks more. That of tlio 
Constitution will then bring in their report and the game begins. 

"I have been much in communication with various members of this committee, 
but it has been in vain that I have sought to get a sight of your Constitutional 
project. I regret this, for T believe it was your desire that the work should bo put 
in such a way as to be made most useful. 

" The old dynastic opposition, B. D. and IT. and M., are playing a dangerous and 



390 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

fi most unpatriotic part ; treating Lamartine as if he Avere the provisional Minister, 
forced to use discordant elements to procure peace, as if he were the regular agent 
of a strong power, disposing of all resources financial and military. This is the 
saddest sign which I observe in the horizon. If Tliiers be elected President, he 
will, we fear, lead oif his old friends, and Thiers' only idea is to follow in the foot- 
steps of his illustrious predecessor, Napoleon, ' La France,' he said to me, just after 
the Revolution, Trance is essentially monarchical and military.' 

" The news from Naples, from Italy generally, and from Austria, complicates 
very materially the position of aflairs. The junction of the Regent's forces with 
Radetzky gives the latter 50,000 men well supplied and having excellent cavalry, 
while Charles Albert, with no greater force, has scarcely any cavalry. We may now 
expect, daily, a pitched battle ; the most scientific which the world has witnessed 
for more than thirty years. Ferdinand of Austria at Innspriick is quite a diff'erent man 
from Ferdinand at Vienna. The stumbling block of all things will be Pan-Sclavism, 
the great organization of the Sclavonic Nations. Italian unity is clear, and so 
would be German unity, were it not for the Sclavonic element whicB is destined to 
have a great part in the future history of the world. 

"Believe me, sir, with much regard, yours fixithfuUy. 

" P. S. There is no doubt the slaughter at Naples was done by the advice of 
the British Minister. England and Austria are doing all in their power to provoke 
France ; and when the war begins, where will it stoj) ? The English people are 
opposed to war. But what hand have they in their Government? and what hand 
have their members of Parliament or even a portion of thi.ir Government in their 
foreign affairs ? " 



o 



G-EORGE Sumner to James A. Hamilton, 

" Paris, September 28, 1848. 

"MtDeae Sir: I owe you many apologies for this Lmg delay in answering 
your interesting letter of 2Tth June, Since that date many events have transpired, 
but none which are not in harmony with the observations in which we mutually 
concurred in April last. On the 22d March, while urging a reduction of our duties 
on certain articles of French manufacture which employ many men in Paris, I 
mentioned in a letter to a M. C. that within three months the number of workmen 
in the Ateliers Nationaux would be so great, and tlie means of supporting them 
would be so nearly exhausted, that a death-struggle must ensue between them and 
the Assembly. The movement came almost at the hour which I had predicted, and 
although there is but poor satisfaction in having been the prophet of evil, I may 
honestly say that of every serious difficulty which has occurred, I had given warn- 
ing to some member of the Provisional Government. The optimism of Lamartine, 
however, more than anything else inspired me with anxiety for the future. 

" You saw in London the manceuvi-es of the exiles. When you were there they 
had full confidence in their speedy return — a confidence which just now is mnterially 
diminished. Their game has been discovered, and they can no longer kill off" by 
calumniating every useful man. Lamartine they submerged for a time, but he has 
come to the surface, and will maintain his level. He has a brilliant and useful 
career before him. His genius will always secure him eminence, and had he talent 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 391 

as well as genius he would be the man of our age. Oavaignac is now exposed to the 
same attacks that poured upon Lamartine, and singularly enougli, the Legitimist Prcs- 
which has always cried out against the tyranny exercised by Paris over the prov- 
vinces, is now abusing C. for maintaining martial law in Paris, and thus checking 
that tyranny. You must bear in mind that it is in only one of the 36,000 communes 
which form France that martial law prevails, and that in that commune it exists 
as a measure of local police by the order of the National Assembly, representing the 
whole people. 

" The English papers amuse themselves by styling Cavaignac the Dictator, He 
is only tlie servant of the Assembly, revocable at any moment. 

" In addition to the part taken by the Legitimists in the affairs of June, of which 
I have myself primary evidence, and which daring the past week has been proved in 
the trial of the insurgents, a conspiracy was organized by them which was to come 
off on the 25th xVugust last. This fell through, and they seem now for a certain 
time to have adjourned their efforts. Let the worst come. Let the Republic he 
overturned, — it will, at least, have given to France three things which contain the 
germs of all progress, and which cannot be revoked : 1st. Cheap postage (the uni- 
form rate is four sous) ; 2d. Common schools (Carnofs admirable project has be- 
come a law) ; 3d. Relief to the poor. There is also universal suffrage, and altliough 
this lias its inconveniences in a country that has received no political or moral educa- 
tion, yet the total neglect of their duty to instruct the lower classes on the part of 
those who held the reins during Louis Philippe's time, has induced many to believe 
that instruction in France will become popular and general only when suffrage is 
universal. Tlie difficulties of the transition are part of those expiations which inva- 
riably follow neglected duties. 

" I find I am near upon the hour of post, but I will not close without a word upon 
Italy and Rome. The death of poor Mr. Martin leaves there a blank at an important 
moment. The idea of a federal Italy is gaining every day more strength, and I can 
see no other rational solution of the Italian problem. Gioborti is now making ar- 
rangements for a parliament (to be held on the 20th October), similar to that which 
gave birth to the National Assembly of Frankfort, and it is not improbable that in 
three months we shall see a federal Congress sitting in Rome. This is the hope of 
Mamiani (the former Prime Minister of the Pope), with whom I had some corre- 
spondence, and to whom it was my good fortune to be able to render some slight 
service during his years of exUe. 

" I have reason to believe that Rossi, whose nomination by the Pope to a new 
ministry has just reached us, Avill labor to the same end. Although I knew him for- 
merly when Boge de la faculte de Droit of Paris; I have had no correspondence 
with him since his return to Rome. I do not doubt, however, the information I 
have received of his proposed course. Under the actual circumstances the presence 
of an American Minister (charge d' affaires) at Rome is exceedingly important, for 
the moral influence of our country may be sustained and augmented, and, further, 
as tlie general revision of customs' tariffs will be one of the first measures in which 
the nevv Congress will act, our material interests may be advanced. 

" You will readily recognize the importance of a speedy nomination to this post. 
Perhaps you may impress it upon the President. It is to be hoped it may be filled 
by some one whose knowledge of Italian language, history, character and commer- 



392 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

cial relations with America will enable him to take at once the position which cir- 
cumstances and the dignity of our country designate for him, 

" I beg you to excuse the haste in which I write, to present my respectful com- 
pliments to Mrs. Schuyler and Miss Hamilton, and to believe me, my dear sir, with 
sincere respect, your very faithful servant, &c. 

"P. S. — The Chambers party have cari-ied the day. Read the ^ Behats'' of to. 
day ; you will see in the leader an excellent summary of the debate. The ' Dehats ' 
resigns itself platonically." 



CHAPTER XI. 

FROM 1850 TO 1859. 

Neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama — The Panama Raih'oad — Communications to 
President Taylor and the Secretary of the Treasury — The yacht America — 
Particulars of her contests and victories — Letters from J. A. Hamilton to 
Samuel Rogers — Interesting letters from Hon. Edward Everett — His oration on 
Washington— Mr. Everett's political views— Hamilton Fish on the Whig party 
and the Know Nothings — Suggestions to Lewis Cass — Letter from Lewis Cass 
— Call for a public meeting to arrest Disunion — Plau to assist In bringing the 
breadstuffs from the interior to the seaboard — E. II. Pendleton on Irving's Life 
of Washington — Letter from Gov. King on financial afiairs — Fifih voyage to 
Europe — Letter to F. P. Blair — Hints upon political affairs — The President's 
power of appointment and removal — Letter from Daniel Webster on tlie i)oliti- 
cal situation. 

James A. Hamilton to President Taylor. 

"1849. 

" In the Treaty negotiated by the late administration between the United States 
and New Grenada, guaranteeing the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, we for 
the first time departed from that sound maxim of public policy Avhicli counsels us to 
steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of tlie foreign world; and thus 
until we shall have induced the other maritime nations of the world to unite in tlie 
same guarantee, the policy of this country as to peace or war is no longer in its own 
hands. It is consequently the dictate of wisdom as well as the prompting of our 
highest interests to use all the means within our power without delay, to negotiate 
with those powers reciprocal guarantee treaties. 

" The Panama Railroad Company having pushed forward its enterprise of build- 
ing a road as far as it can at present by making a contract for the construction of a 
road over the most inaccessible portion of the Isthmus, that is to say between Pana- 
ma on the Pacific and Gorgona on the Chagres River, to be completed within two 
years, have in contemplation to ask the Government of the United States to initiate 
such negotiations. Under these circumstances and as a motive to induce the other 
maritime powers to enter into such stipulations, this Company ought to authorize 
the Government of the United States to engage that no greater rates of faro or 
freight shall be charged upon the people or goods of other nations than they charge 
upon those of the United States, and to enter into all other engagements which may 
reasonably be required to make this route, although the property of individuals, the 
great highway of all, and equal to all the nations of the world who will enter into 
like treaties. Without such a stipulation other nations will object to assuming such 
serious obligations, which may have the effect of securing a project which may be 
said to be purely American. On the other hand the United States Government, 



394 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

authorized by the Company to enter into sucli stipuhitions on its behalf, will be 
enabled not only to provide equal and common benefits to all •n-ho may assume 
equal and common responsibilities, but may settle an exciting question in regard to 
another route in the same way. 

"At the same time the writer of tliis communication desires, with great respect, 
to submit to the President that this negotiation will afford a most happy opportu- 
nity to make an effoi-t to induce all those nations to enter into a stipulation 'that 
the vessels being the property of individuals with their cargoes not contraband of 
war proceeding to or from the termim;s of this road on the Pacific and on the Atlan- 
tic side of the Isthmus, shall not be subject to capture or sequestration in the event 
of war between any of the parties.' 

" It has been well and truly said, that ' the usages of war still savor too much 
of the ferocious maxims of the times when war was the chief occupation of man.' 
Happily, however, the practice of latter times has left several of those maxims little 
more than points of obsolete doctrines. They still retain their rank in theory ; but 
usage has introduced so many qualifications as nearly to destroy their operation. 

"If we allow these just and humane views to be our guide in considering this 
suggestion, it will be found not so startling as when first presented. Let the United 
States, and particularly the Whig administration of General Taylor, have the lionor 
of making the first serious and practical effort to mitigate in so essential a degree 
the fe'rocious maxims of war. Let us have the merit — while dreaming philosophers 
in peace Congresses are endeavoring to do what never can be done until the whole 
nature of man shall be changed — of inducing nations, by their interest, to take the 
first step in a direction which will more than any other, diminish the horrors of war 
by making war a condition of injuries to nationalities, and exempting individual 
property from its ravages. 

" The object, and the only object of the guarantee we have assumed and which 
we ravite others to assume, is to place the commerce of the Isthmus or of any other 
national communication between the two great oceans of the world, in a condition 
of security from the consequences of war. Any stipulation, however, which merely 
secures the peaceful occupation of the territory without embracing the commerce to 
which it is devoted, will be wholly unavailing. To guarantee the neutrality of the 
territory so appropriated to the common and equal use and benefit of all mankind, 
almost necessarily implies the guarantee of the commerce of its respective ports. As 
pioperty is a fiction without its beneficial use, so would the neutrality of the great 
highway be a fiction without the neutrality of the commerce which is to pass over; 
and above all, that which is to pass to and from it. Beside the arguments which 
might be urged from considerations of humanity and of the advantages resulting 
from the mitigation of the rigor of the ancient maxims of war in which the United 
States are every way intsrested, much might be said to prove the propriety of such 
a guarantee in this particular case. 

'• Should you be so fortunate as to induce other nations to enter into such stip- 
ulations, it would be to your evei'lasting honor and to that of the country, .that you 
had initiated a system which must necessarily lead to the prohibition of privateer- 
ing and ultimately to exclude all individual property, not contraband of war, from 
visitation, detention, or capture : and whether successful or not at the first attempt, 
be assured this honorable effort, so congenial with the spirit of the age, will be 
received with acclamation, and once set on foot, it must ultimately be successful. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 395 

"As it is proper, reasonable, and humane, its novelty should not make it ob- 
jectionable to the administration of the Government of the United State's, wliose 
true destiny is to send forth new and shining lights to guide the nations of the earth 
to great and beneficent principles and practices." 

James A. Hamilton, to the Secretary ov the Treasury. 

"DoBBS Ferry P.O., April 8, 1850. 

" Sir : Without having the lionor of your personal acquaintance, I take the liberty 
(a very great one I admit) to address this letter to you as chairman of the Commit- 
tee of Ways and Means. 

"There was brought to the port of New York, by the last two steamers from 
Chagres, not less it is said by the best informed, than $3,000,000 in gold dust ; which 
will be taken to the mint in Philadelphia, there to remain for from six to eight 
weeks, useless to its owners and dead as regards the capital of the country. To 
remedy this evil— not an unimportant one to a country whose capital is so very in- 
adequate to the development of its vast resources as is ours — I most respectfully sub- 
mit that it would be just and proper, both as it respects the owners of this gold and 
the business of the country, and without the slightest danger of public loss or injury, 
if the director of the mint should be authorized by law, upon receiving the precious 
metals on deposit, to deliver to the depositors certificates of deposit, to be prepared 
in such form and denominations not less than say $50 or $100; and under such 
regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury might direct ; such certificates to be 
without interest, but receivable for public dues. 

"By such an an-angement the mint might be relieved from its present almost 
intolerable pressure, the owners will receive an available representative of their 
'gold, thus having its immediate use, and the capital of the country will be enlarged. 
These certificates being taken for public dues, will be received by the banks and 
issued to their dealers when required by them to pay duties, and thus returned to 
the mint, and the director as a sub-treasurer would hold the amount of coin the cer- 
tificates so returned represent, to the credit of the Government. 

" This would be a first step to render the independent treasury system a most 
convenient agent to the Government, and so far a diminished evil to the people. 

" Our people have the qualities necessary to develop the vast resources of our 
country ; they want the assistance of capital, which is now as deficient in com- 
parison with its necessity, as it was at the organization of our Government. 

" This great want can only be supplied by allowing the precious metals to be, as 
far as the agency of the Government is concerned and its security is not involved, 
the foundation of credit. 

" Pardon me for addressing this letter to you, and particularly for presuming to 
present to you these obvious truths. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your obedient servant, &c." 

YAOnT AMERICA— 1851. MY FOURTH VOYAGE TO EUROPE. 

The New York Yacht Club having been invited bj' tlie Eojal Yacht 
Squadron, Earl Wilton, Commodore, to send a yacht to Cowes, England, in 



39C REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

order to test the relative merits of the diflferent models of the old and new 
world without restriction as to rig or otherwise, the New York Club selected 
the yacht '^ America,''^ although she was not as fast a sailer as the " Marian 

The owners of that vessel, Commodore John C. Stevens, his brother Ed- 
win Stevens, and George L. Schuyler, three of the five owners, decided to go 
with her. The last gentleman being compelled to change his purpose, I went 

in his place. 

The yacht, under the command of Captain Brown, a distinguished pilot of 
New York harbor, with a mate and eleven seamen, left New York for Havre 
on the twenty-first day of June, and arrived there on the twelfth of July. The 
Commodore and his friends sailed in the steamer Himioldt^ and arrived at 
Havre a fortnight before the yacht. At Havre, the America was overhauled, 
and rigged with her accustomed sails, which were carried along with her. 
Much of our time, waiting for the yacht, was passed in Paris. 

Such was the want of confidence of our countrymen in our success, that I was 
earnestly urged by Mr. William C. Eives, the American Minister, and Mr. Sears, 
of Boston, not to take the vessel over, as we were sure to be defeated. My 
friend, Mr. H. Greeley, who had been at the Exhibition in London, meeting me 
in Paris, was most urgent against our going. He went so far as to say : " The eyes 
of the world are on you ; you will be beaten, and the country will be abused, as it 
has been in connection with the Exhibition." I replied, " We are in for it, and 
must go." He replied, " Well, if you do go, and are beaten, you had better 
not return to your country." This awakened me to the deep and extended in- 
terest our enterprise had excited, and the responsibility we had assumed. It 
did not, however, induce us to hesitate. I remembered that our packet-ships 
had outrun theirs, and why should not this schooner, built upon the best model ? 

In Paris we took means to obtain the best wines and all other luxuries to 
enable us to entertain our guests in the most sumptuous manner. 

The Commodore and his brother sailed from Havre to Cowes in the America; 
the writer and his wife crossed in the IliunholiU, lauded at Cowes, and there 
went into lodgings. The America arrived the following evening, and came to 
anchor below the town, where the cutter Laverock was also at anchor. In the 
morning, with a light breeze, the America got under way to come up to her 
proper anchorage oif Cowes. The Laverock did the same, and Avas beaten 
handily. I mention this because it had a most important bearing upon subse- 
quent events. The Laverock being a cutter, although of less tonnage than the 
America^ was ranked by the Club as a match for a schooner not larger than the 
America. She having been so much beaten in so short a distance, induced an 
estimate of the America''s sailing qualities, which much impaired the confidence 
of the Club in the superiority of their yachts. 

We were elected honorary members of the Club, invited to the houses of 
several of its members, and treated in the handsomest manner, by the gentlemen 
of the Club. A dinner was given to us by the Club, at whicb I was called 
upon to respond to a toast. Among other civil things, I took occasion, referring 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 397 

to the beneficence of the people, to state that I had seen in the Thames a ves- 
sel on the side of which was written, " A Hospital foi- Seamen of all Nations," 
and to the Smithson bequest of a very large sum of money to the Government 
of the United States to establish an institution for " the diffusion of knowkdfre 
among men." I mention this from the extraordinary fact that among the dis- 
tinguished nobles and gentlemen at the table not one knew anything about that 
bequest. 

After waiting a reasonable time for a proposal for a race from the Eoyal 
Yacht Squadron, which, as we had been invited by them, we believed they were 
bound to make to xis, Commodore Steveus on the 2d of August made the fol- 
lowing communication to Earl Wilton, the Commodore of the Royal Yacht 
Squadron : 

" The New York Yacht Club, in order to test the relative merits of the different 
models of the schooners of the old and the new world, propose through Commo- 
dore Stevens, to the Eoyal Yacht Squadron, to run the yacht America agahist any 
number of schooners belonghig to any of the Yacht Squadrons of the Kingdom, to 
be selected by tlie Commodore of the Eoyal Yacht Squadron, the course to bo over- 
some part of the English Channel outside the Isle of Wight, witli at least a six-knot 
breeze. This trial of speed to be made at an early day to be selected by the Com- 
modore of the Eoyal Yacht Squadron. And if on that day there sliall not be at 
least a six-knot breeze, then, on the first day thereafter that such a breeze shall blow. 
" On behalf of the New York Yacht Club, 

(Signed), John C. Stevexs, Commodore." 
" CowES, August 2, 1S51. 

The above was enclosed in the following not:, addressed and sent to Lord 
Wilton, Commodore. 

" Commodore Stevens presents his re-pects to Lord "Wilton, and begs to present 
for his consideration the enclosed proposition. 
"Yacht Amebica, August 2, 1S51." 



To this challcnc'e the followinrc answer was received : 

"The Commodore of the Eoyal Yacht Squadron has the honor to acknowledge 
the receipt of a proposition from the New York Yaclit Club, to run the yacht 
America against any number of schooners belonging to any of the Yacht Clubs of 
the Kingdom upon certain conditions. He will take the earliest opportunity to 
acquaint the proprietors of schooners throughout the kingdom of tlie proposed trial, 
but as there are a great many Yacht Clubs in Great Britain and Ireland, some little 
time must necessarily elapse before answers can be received. Tlie members gen- 
erally of the Eoyal Yacht Squadron are greatly interested in testing tlio relative 
merits of the different models of the old and new world without restriction as to rig 
or otherwise, and with this view have offered a cup, to be sailed for by vessels of ad 
rigs and nations on the IStli instant. It would be a subject to them of the highest 



398 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

gratification to hear tbat the America had entered as a competitor on the occa- 
sion. 

" (Signed), Wiltox, Commodore of the R. Y. Squadron. 

'• EoYAL Yacht Squadegn House, August 8, 1851." 

To this communication, Commodore Stevens made the following reply : 

"Yacht America, August 9, 1851. 

"My Lord: I had the honor yesterday to receive your communication of the 
8th inst., in which you inform me ia reply to the proposition of the New York 
Yacht Club to run the America against any schooners belonging to any of the Yacht 
Clubs of this Kingdom, that you will take the earliest opportunity to acquaint the 
proprietors of such schooners of the proposed trial, and in which you invite me to 
enter the America as a competitor for the cup to be sailed for at the regatta on the 
loth inst. I beg leave in reply to say that as the period of my visit is necessarily 
limited, and as much time may be consumed awaiting to receive answers from the 
proprietors of schooners (without intending to withdraw that proposition), and 
although it is my intention to enter fur the cup, provided I am allowed to sail 
the America in such manner as her rig requires : yet as the issue of a regatta is 
not always the test of the merits of the vessels engaged in ir, I now propose to ran 
the yacht America against any cutter, schooner, or vessel of any other rig of the 
Royal Yacht Squadron, relinquishing any advantage which your rules admit is due to 
a schooner from a cutter, but claiming the the right to sail the America in such man- 
ner, by such booming out, as her raking masts require ; the course to be in the 
English Channel with not less than a six-knot breeze ; the race to come off on some 
day before the iTth instant ; the distance to be not less than twenty nor over seventy 
miles out and back, and in such a direction as to test the qualit-es of the vessels 
before and by the wind. 

" Although it would be most agreeable to me that this race should be for a cup 
of limited value, yet if it is preferred, I am willing to stake upon the issue any sum 
not to exceed ten thousand guineas. 

" I have the honor to be, your Lordship's obedient servant, 

" John C. SxEVEifs." 

"P. S. As I have offered to enter the America for the prize to be given by the 
Royal Yacht Club on the ISth instant, it is desirable that I should receive an answer 
before that day." 

The following note was addressed by Commodore Stevens on the 16th Au- 
gust, to John Bates, Esq., Royal Navy : 

"Dear Sir : Will you do me the favor to enter the America for the Royal Yacht 
Squadron Regatta to come off on the 22d inst. The fact that this vessel is owned 
by more than one person is so well known, as to render it almost unnecessary to 
state it; yet I do so when she is entered, to avoid the possibility of seeming to 
contravene the rules of the Royal Yacht Squadron. 

" Allow me further to say, in reference to others who may be disposed to be com 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 309 

petitors, that should there belittle or no wind on tLat day, this vessel -will probably 
not sail. ' 

" With respect, your obedient servant, 

(Signed,) "John- C. Stktess." 

The following note was Jtddressed by the writer to Lord Dcsart : 

" Club House, Cowes, Yacht America, ) 
August 15, 1851, 10 o'clock A. M. \ 

"My Lord: I have communicated to Commodore Stevens your wish that he 
sliould make a friendly trial with the Armenia and Constance to-day. I am author- 
ized by Commodore Stevens to say, he will be most happy to make sucli a trial with 
these or any other vessels of the Royal Yacht Sc^uadron, whenever liis proposal of 
the 9th inst. may be accepted or rejected. 

" I bave the honor to be, your Lordship's obedient servant, 

"James A. Hamiltox." 

After these efforts on our part to get up a match without success, the 
famous engineer, Mr. Stevenson, owner of the Titania, to afford the American 
Yacht an opportunity to sail, as Commodore Stevens had proposed, agreed to 
enter the Titania, without, however, any hope of success. He sent the following 
through Commodore Wilton : 

" la reply to the proposition made by Commodore Stevens, Mr. Stevenson agrees 
to sail his schooner yacht Titania against the Ncav York yacht Amei'ica, for the 
sum of £100 each. Tlie course to be around a steamer stationed about twenty miles 
oif, and back to the Nab light vessel, the goal of decision." 

This proposition was communicated in a note by Lord Wilton, together 
with the following directions : 

"The two yachts will take their stations on each side of the Xarifa, (Wilton's 
yacht) at the Nab-light at 10 o'clock. The first gun will be fired from the X. and 
the blue Peter hauled five minutes before starting. When the second gun is fired 
and the blue Peter hauled down, the vessels will start. The steamer wmU be sta- 
tioned about twenty miles South East of the Nab-light; whicli the yachts will 
round, upon either tack. The steamer will hoist a blue ensign wlicn she is at lior 
station. The goal of decision will be the Nab-light bearing S. ^V'. 

(Signed,) " Wilton, Commodore.'' 

On the 24th August, Mr. Woodhouse proposed to make a matcli with his 
yacht, the Gondola, to come off in October, from Cowes round the EdJjstonc 
light-house and back to Cowes, for £100 or £200, to which Commodore Stevens 
gave the following reply : 

"Yacht America, August 20. 

"Sir: I regret extremely that it is not in ray power to oblige you, as I propose 
to leave Cowes immediately after the matcli with the Titania is decided. To atlbrd 
you, however, an opportunity to try the speed of the Gondola, I propose (the Iloyal 



400 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Yacht Squadron consenting) that you make tlie trial at sea on the same day, and at 
the same time, and on the same course with the Titania and the America. As a 
further inducement to you to mal<e this trial, I will wager £1,000 against £200, the 
America beats the Oondola.'''' 

This match with the Titania came off after she had time to go on the 
ways, to be cleaned and fitted up ia the best manner. Mr. Woodhouse, with 
the Gondola, did not appear. 

Goino- out before the wind, the America took the lead a short distance and 
held it all the way out, although she broke the gaff of her fore-sail, which was 
taken in aud spliced, by which she of course lost sometime. She passed round 
the steamer ahead of her competitor, and took the lead beating back. The 
wind freshened to a wholesale breeze, and the Titania was left behind a distance 
which our pilot estimated at seven miles. 

The Regatta race for tlie Cup on the 22d August.— The morning was bright, 
the wind very light. Sixteen vessels started at the signal given, 10 o'clock 
A. M. Commodore Stevens invited Mr. Lyon to accompany us, and gave orders 
not to hoist our sails until all the others were under way. When the order to 
hoist was given by the captain, it was obeyed with a will, and the Yankee 
vessel seeming to be excited by the responsibility of her position, rushed to the 
lead in beautiful style. The wind dropped off near Ryde. The Volante, a 
cutter of forty-five tons, passed the America. An hour after the breeze fresh- 
ened, and the America passed tlie Volante, " and then spared her a jib." After 
we got round The Needles the wind died away, and we were alarmed by the 
appearance of a small vessel (the Fairi/), so light as to be pressed upon us by 
the gentle puffs which could hardly move the America of 170 tons. Our only 
fear as to the issue of the race was, that some light vessel like the Volante -Vfith. 
a li_2;ht puff of air might keep close to us, and with the tide might pass us. 

The America arrived at Cowes at half past 8 p. m., and was received with 
the most gratifying cheers. Yankee Doodle was played by the band. 

After the regatta. Col. Phipps informed Commodore Stevens by a note, that 
if the America would fall down to opposite Osborne House, her Majesty would 
visit the America, to which in the absence of the Commodore, I replied, that the 
yacht would be at anchor opposite Osborne House at four o'clock p. m. After 
getting all things in order this was done. Lord Alfred Paget, who was one of 
the Queen's attendants, then off duty, went down with us. Her Majesty and 
the Prince Consort, with four gentlemen and two ladies (Lady .Desart and Miss 
]3ins:) came off with her barge, sailed round the vessel, and came to at the port 
gangway ; where she and her husband were received by the Commodore and 
conducted to the quarter-deck— the attendants, ladies and gentlemen, remaining 
forward of the main rigging, the two ladies on one side, and the gentlemen on 
the other. Lord Alfred presented us by name, and we had an agreeable chat, 
her Majesty congratulating us on our success at the regatta. To our surprise, 



aEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 401 

and that of all present, the reserve and those forms generally observed in the 
presence of majesty were entirely done away. When I remarked upon this at 
the Club, the explanation given, was, that as we were her hosts, of course, we 
were put upon an equality with her Majesty. After awhile, she expressed a 
wish to go below. The Commodore took her Majesty's hand to help her to 
the cockpit, and then took her through the vessel, as I did the Prince. ITer 
Majesty was particularly struck with the arrangement of the ballast, which was 
peculiar, and asked to see the accommodations for the crew. The whole thing 
went oflf well. I took an opportunity to go to speak to Lady Desart, whom I had 
seen before on board the yacht at Cowes, and asked her and Miss Bing to come 
affc. She said " Oh ! no, that would not do, this is our place." 

The America was sold to the Hon. Captain John de Blanquiere, for £5,000 
and £100 was received on the Titania race. Our expenses amounted to about 
£750. 

Orders were giv^en to the officers of the customs to allow our vessel to enter, 
and all we had on board to be landed without any of the usual observances. 
This civility was most grateful because it was entirely gratuitous, and freed us 
from much trouble. I have great pleasure in referring to the courtesy with 
which we were treated by all persons with whom we met, and the spirit with 
which they accepted their defeat. Nothing could be more manly or in a better 
spirit. Their expressions of congratulation to us were in the most remarkable 
spirit; so much was this so, that I remarked to a lady, " Your friends do not 
seem to feel any mortification or even dissatisfaction at their defeat." " Oh !" 
said she, " if you could hear what I do, you would know that they feel it most 
deeply." Lord Wilton, after the Titania race, addressed the following note to 
me, dated Cowes, Friday. 

" Dear Me. Hamilton : I must congratulate you upon the success of the Amer- 
ica yesterday, which was complete. I enclose yoa the stakes, that were deposited 
with me before the race. My address in London is 7 Grosvenor Square. I must 
now bid you farewell, as I leave tbis station for London to-day ; but I hope the 
period will not be far distant when I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again. I 
beg that you will kindly convey ray adieus to the Commodore and liis brother. 
And I am always, Yours very truly, 

"Wilton." 

Of course our success in racing, and particularly around the Isle of Wight, 
would so much depend upon the skill and fidelity of our pilot as to make that 
a subject of deep interest. Our excellent Consul at Southampton engaged 
Mr. Underwood as a pilot for us ; who went on board the America on her ar- 
rival, and whose whole conduct was entirely satisfactory. We had intimations 
from various sources on that subject. 

The gallant Admiral of Portsmouth addressed a letter to Commodore 
Stevens, oflfering, if wc were not satisfied with the one we had, to send us a 
26 



402 REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

pilot wlio waa uot only most skilful, well acquainted with all the waters in the 
neighborhood, but for whose fidelity he would be responsible. This kind oifer 
was promptly declined, on the ground that Commodore Stevens had entire con- 
fidence in the knowledge, skill, and fidelity, of our pilot Mr. Underwood. 

The Courier and Enquirer^ of New York, in giving an account of the com- 
plimentary dinner to the owners of the America, among other errors, rep- 
resented me as having said " the offer by the Admiral of Portsmouth Station 
of a pilot, was as frankly accepted as it was honorably made." This was cor- 
rected in the paper at my request. 

There was at one time a very general impression among the lower orders of 
the people about the docks at Cowes, that the America had a propeller which 
was artfully concealed ; and our crew amused themselves by saying to the boat- 
men, who came alongside with visitors (there were thousands, as people of all 
classes were permitted to examine the vessel) : " In the stern-sheets, under the 
gangway, there is a grating which the Commodore does not allow any person to 
open." And, indeed, this opioion was entertained by persons not of the lower 
class alone. A sporting clergyman said to a gentleman, who repeated it to 
me : " I would not wager a guinea against the Yankee craft ; but I will give a 
hundred to see her bottom." 

The old Marquis of Anglesea went out with his yacht, the Pearl (one 
of the best sailers of the squadron), taking with him Mr. Steers, one of the 
Am'erica''s crew, the brother of Mr. George Steers, the builder, to sail about the 
harbor. The America went after her under a mainsail and jib only, and passed 
her without difficulty. The master of the Pearl said, " Your lordship knows 
that no vessel with sails alone could do that." When the America went slowly, 
he said, *' Now it is stopped ; " and when she went on, " Now it is going." These 
remarks of the master were not unheeded by the Marquis, and Steers said no- 
thing to contradict them— he enjoying the jokes. When the vessels came to 
anchor, the Marquis's boat was manned; he came aboard the America ; and 
after a salutation he went to the stern, leaned over so far that the Commodore 
took hold of his leg to prevent him from going over — he was looking most 
eagerly for the propeller. 

The America having touched bottom when at anchor on one occasion, her 
false keel came off. She went directly to Portsmouth, to go on the ways to 
have it replaced. The day was wet, but notwithstanding hundreds weut to 
Portsmouth to see her on the ways. Thus alone was that illusion (which was 
gladly indulged because it was soothing to wounded feelings) destroyed. 

From Cowes we went to London ; remained there a few days, and from 
thence to Liverpool to sail for America. Awaiting the day of departure I 
made a visit to Sir Arthur Aston, to whom I had a letter of introduction from 
Washington Irving and another from my son; Sir Arthur having been Eng- 
lish Minister at Madrid when Irving was American Minister, and my son Alex- 
ander, Secretary of Legation. 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 403 

The estate of this gentleman, a few miles distant from Liverpool, was of 
considerable extent, highly cultivated ; having been in his family from a very 
remote period. He was a bachelor, well instructed ; had an extensive library, 
and much literary taste. I here learned how draining was extended. Seeing 
twigs stuck in fields in various places, I asked the purpose. He said, after it 
rained copiously the water would remain in these places ; and they were con- 
sequently to be drained, 

. Having in my course through parts of England, in August, seen the farmers 
engaged in haymaking raking up their hay by hand, I expressed to Sir Arthur 
my surprise that they did not use the horse-rake so generally used in the United 
States ; by which a boy, with a horse, could rake more hay in windrows in half 
a day than ten men could in a day. He had never heard of such an imple- 
ment. I described it to him, and the manner of working it ; first, in throwing 
the cured hay in windrows, and then into masses to be forked into cocks ; and 
consequently the immense saving of labor ; and how particularly useful it would 
be in securing the hay rapidly, after it was cured, in the wet climate of Eng- 
land. He seemed so deeply interested in the subject, that I promised, imme- 
diately on my return to the United States, to send him one. The cost to me 
would be insignificant, say $5, and to him nothing but the freight and duties; 
and this was understood between us. After my return to Liverpool he came 
there to see me, and he thanked me for my kind purposes in regard to the hay- 
rake; but requested me not to send it, as it would, by turning so many men 
out of work, create much excitement. 

During this very interesting excursion I met with very many gentlemen of 
the squadron and out of it, for whose kindness and attention I have always 
been grateful. In their deep disappointment, and I may say mortification, at 
being beaten, they never manifested the slightest indication of displeasure ; on 
the contrary, they were the first to congratulate us on our successes. 

James A. Hamilton to Samuel Rogers. 

" DoBBS Fk: RT P. O., N. Y., January 20, 1852. 

" My Dear Friend: When I had last the pleasure of seeing you, I promised to 
send you a copy of the " Works of Hamilton " (my father) ; the last of the seven 
volumes has at length been published, and I rejoice that I am thus enabled to keep 
my word to you; and in the belief that I shall from time to time be brought back 
to your recollection as one of your most aifectionate friends. 

" The work is so extended, and in fact touches upon subjects so obsolete, that 
you cannot be expected to go through it, and therefore, I beg to direct your atten- 
tion particularly to the letters written during Washington's Administration, to wit, 
from 1789 to 1797. 

"My father's participation in the organization of the Government, and in fixing 
its domestic and foreign policy, which I believe after all, has had more to do with 
the prosperity of the country than the Constitution itself, is the best monument to 
his fame. 



404 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 



* 



"la 1842, -when I had the honor to receive the most marked and gratifying 
attention from you and Lord Brougham, he manifested some interest in these works. 
If his health and occupation should permit him to read,— and above all to write a 
review which no man could do better than he, it would afford me the most sincere 
pleasure, particularly because it would be the surest means of bringing this illustrious 
man to the notice of Europe, 

" These books will be sent to your address, by the packet ship YorMown to sail 
from New York for London, on the 29th inst,, and may be expected to arrive be- 
tween the 24th and last day of February next. 

" They will be accompanied by a letter which the Captain will deliver at your 
house ; he will be instructed by his owners to give your agent every facility in land- 
ing the books ; they will of course be subject to no charge except those of your 
custom duties, which I cannot provide for here. 

" I remain, my dear sir, your sincere friend." 

James A. Hamilton to Mr. Samuel Rogers. 

" April 23, 1852. 

"Your letter of the 20th ultimo was most grateful to me ; you had received the 
Hamilton works, and were in good health. 

" To permit you to send to each of my five children a set of your works is almost 
an abuse of your kind feelings toward me and them; but I am compelled to yield 
to their ardent wishes to receive from you such a distinguished mark of your con- 
sideration ; and therefore, give you their names in the order of their births. 

"Eliza Hamilton Schuyler " wife of the gentleman, Mr. G. L. S. who was with 
me at your house in 1842 ; Fanny Bowdoin; Alexander Hamilton, Junior; Mary 
M. Hamilton; Angelica Hamilton." 

"A box addressed to 'Alexander Hamilton, Junior, Counsellor at Law, 
Jauncey Court, Wall St., K F.' put on board of a packet-ship for New York, 
■ (they are found at St. Catherine's Dock, London) will reach me. 

"I sorely regret that Lord Brougham cannot review my father's works. Do me 
the favor to present my respects to his Lordship ; with my thanks for his kind ex- 
pressions. 

"I will take an early opportunity to give you my views on the subject at large, 
in order to account for my solicitude that they should receive a handsome notice 
in your country. My confidence in the wisdom of your statesmen, and the stability 
of your Government is so entire that no change of Ministry gives me any alarm— 
Bsto 2>crpetua.'''' 

Hon. Edward Everett to James A. Hamilton. 

" Boston, November 10, 1855. 
" Dear Sir : I have received your obliging letter of the 7th. With reference to the 
political views of which Mr. Choate's speech is so able an exposition, I would say, that 
the conservative whig party of this State was a good deal weakened by the territorial 
legislation of 1850. Mr. Webster's great speech of the Tth of March of that year 
did not meet with an unanimous reponse ; — though, upon the whole, there was a 
general acquiescence. The insensibility shown by the South to the importance of 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 405 

Mr. Webster's services on that occasion, (which I well know was duly estimated by 
you), and his disappearance from the stage contributed still further to weaken us. 
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, was the conp de grace to the Whig 
organization in Massachusetts. 

" A reaction has commenced, with what final result will depend on what is done 
at Washington this winter. The ' Eepublican' movement is regarded here simply 
as a device to intensify and combine the entire anti-shivery feeling of the North in 
support of Mr. Seward, as a candidate for the Presidency. For this year it has 
wholly failed. It will fail next year, unless the Administration and the South play 
Mr. Seward's game for him, better than he can play it for himself. 

"I am much indebted to you for your kind suggestion relative to the repetition 
of my address on the character of Washington. I do not like the appearance of the 
frequent repetition of an address of this kind, but I have been obliged to yield to 
the urgency of the applications made to me. I was requested last week by the 
Mercantile Library Association of New York to deliver the address there, and I 
have agreed to do so. The place is to be the Academy of Music, and the day prob- 
ably the 3cl of March,— a good while to look ahead in this changing world, but it 
was necessary to name a day, with a view to securing the hall. I suggested that it 
might be more for the advantage of the Association to make a separate affair of it, 
(as it is to be done here), and not have my address form one of the regular course 
of lectures. This suggestion has been readily assented to. I shall endeavor to 
prevent being reported either here or elsewhere ; but the gentlemen of the press are 
not very much disposed to waive their right of property in the product of their 
neighbours' brains. 

"I hope to be able, in glancing at some of Washington's friends and co-operators, 
to assign to your honored father his proper place, — which I conceive to have been 
the first. It will not be in my power, of course, to devote much space to any but 
the principal personage, to whom the day (22d February) is consecrated ; but I shall 
do my best. I shall be truly grateful to you for the communication which you 
kindly promise. In the present state of my family, I fear it will not be possible for 
me to leave home at present. My daughter has lately left me, and the entire charge 
of my family devolves on me. I hope it may not be too much trouble to you to put 
in writing the anecdotes to which you refer. 

"The young men here at whose request my address is to be delivered, intend to 
appropriate the proceeds to the decoration of their new hall. With this view, 
measures have been taken to procure a fine copy, as large as the original, of Stuart's 
admirable full length portrait of Washington at Newport, which I first saw last 
summer, in the agreeable company of Mr. Bancroft, your daughter and niece. 
Besides this, they will procure heads of some of Washington's contemporaries, — 
military and civil, your father of course among them. We have in Boston his 
portrait by Col. Trumbull, formerly belonging to Col. Perkins, a devoted friend of 
your father, now the property of Mr. R. C. Winthrop. This, I suppose, is tlio best 
original accessible here for a copy. 

" Desiring my respectful compliments to Mrs. II. and my most kind remerabranco 
to my much valued friend, your daughter. 

"I remain, dear sir, very faithfully, yours." 



40G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A, HAMILTON. 

Hon. Edward Everett to James A. Hamilton. 

" Boston, December 3, 1855. 

"My Dear Sir : I am greatly indebted to you for your letters of the 22d and 
30th of November, and for the memoranda of your father accompanying them in 
Miss Mary's handwriting. They are extremely interesting to me. I may not be 
able to make much use of tliem in my discourse on Washington, -which will necessa- 
rily dwell much in generalities, but sooner or later, every thing of that kind turns 
to account. 

"In reply to your inquiries what the " Union Wbigs" of Massachusetts would 
think of a re-organization of the party of New York and the nomination of Mr. 
Fillmore, I have been desirous, before answering, to confer with Mr. Choate ; but 
this I bave not had it in my power to do. I have, however, compared notes with 
another friend, whose opinions are eminently entitled to respect, — Mr. Ilillard. For 
our own State, we think the following to be the wise course, to keep the "Whig party 
as much together as possible, but not to make any nomination. There will certainly 
be three candidates, the Democratic, the Republican and the Know Nothing, Tbere 
seems to be no chance of a fourtb, for the " Union Whig" party at the South is 
more completely disorganized tban at the North. If the Know Nothings will nom- 
inate Mr. Fillmore, which is not unlikely, tbe Whigs in Massachusetts will support 
him with great cordiality, and with their aid, he would be sure of the vote of the 
State. And it appears to me by far the best calculation the K. N's. could make 
with a view to success. 

"The expediency of an Independent Union Whig nomination of Mr. Fillmore in 
your State in January, would depend upon the tendency of that step to induce a 
nomination by the Know Nothings in February. I must own that it would tend 
rather to defeat than promote that end. The K. N's., like all other parties, have a 
pride which is gratified by doing their own work, not having it done for them. 
They will know (without a previous Whig nomination,) that if they nominate Mr. 
Fillmore, the Union Whigs will vote for him ; there is no need of a previous Whig 
nomination to give them that assurance. Such a previous nomination would call 
into intense activity all the opposing interests to prevent the K. N's. from selecting 
Mr. Fillmore. It would afford time to act upon these members of the K. N. party, 
(numerous in several of the States, though not I believe in New York) who have Free 
Soil proclivities. For these reasons, I am pretty strongly of opinion, that a previous 
Whig nomination of Mr. Fillmore would do harm and not good ; although if made 
by the K. N's. it will doubtless receive the vote of Union Whigs throughout the 
country, with a fair chance of success. 

"The greatest danger to be apprehended, is that the events of the impending ses- 
W sion may be such as to invigorate the Republican, which I regard as a disunion 
party ; split the K. N's. into a northern and southern wing, and break up what little 
nationality we have left. 

" I remain, dear sir, very sincerely yours." 

Hon. Edward Everett to James A. Hamilton. 

" Boston, December 17, 1855. 
" Dear Sir : I have been a little tardy in replying to your letter of the 8th, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 407 

owing to t!ie difficulty of seeing gentlemen all very busy, and much occupied myself 
■with domestic cares. 

" There is some division of opinion among our friends, as to the expediency of an 
attendance from this quarter at the meeting of the 10th of January at New York, 
It is supposed that no meeting held in a hotel in New York, of gentlemen from 
various States could be kept secret. Its doings would be surmised from the charac- 
ter of the persons present, and to prevent misstatements, it would be necessary at 
least, in the general, to give publicity to the proceedings. With this probable result, 
one very judicious friend doubts whether anybody had better go from this quarter. 
Another thinks it so important that political friends in the ditfercnt States should 
compare notes with each other, that he would have Massachusetts represented. 
Neither of the gentlemen named by you will be able to go, nor will it, I fear, be in 
my power to leave home. If it were, I do not think my attendance desirable. 
Everything wearing the appearance of " Huukerism,'' must as much as possible be 
avoided, Mr. Ohoate and I are taking steps to get the opinions of one or two gen- 
tlemen in the interior of the State, and I rather think we shall be able to get some 
gentlemen to attend, fully qualified to speak for the Conservative Whigs of Massa- 
chusetts. 

"I hope you will be able to execute your purpose of going to Washington. 
When I left it in May, 1854, this miserable Nebraska question had entirely broken 
up the National Whig party. With a few exceptions, our quondam Southern asso- 
ciates appeared to take pleasure in displaying their adherence to the Southern view 
of the question. I am not v,'e]l informed how matters now stand, for ill health for 
a long time compelled me to relieve my mind of every anxiety ; nor have I, since 
my health has somewhat improved, sought in any quarter to resume my correspond- 
ence. What I have written to you the few past few weeks, exceeds the aggregate 
of all my political correspondence for eighteen months. , 

" I am, dear sir, with much regard, truly yours." 

Hon. Edward Everett to James A. Hamilton, 

"Boston, January 7, 1856. 

" Dear Sir : I thought till an liour since, that Massachusetts would be very ably 
represented at the meeting on the lOtli, by Mr. S. II. Walley, a member of tlie last 
Congress, the candidate of the conservative Whigs for Governor at the last election. 
An imperative business engagement has unexpectedly occurred, which requires him 
to be here. Whether Mr, Cliapman of Springfield, "whose attendance was requested 
by Mr, Choate, will be able to go, I have not heard. All the friemls with whom I con- 
verse, concur in the opinions already expressed to you, that is — that it would be in- 
expedient for the Whigs to make a nomination. If Mr, Fillmore or any otiier Con- 
servative Whig is in nomination, under whatever party auspices, he will be supports I 
by the Conservative Whigs of Massachusetts, They are disposed to adhere to tiieir 
organization; and if thi-ee candidates are in nomination next year, they will be able 
to decide the vote of Massachusetts in favor of the one whom they prefer. 
" I remain, dear sir, with much regard, sincerely yours," 

Hon, Edward Everett to James A, Hamilton, 

"]?o8Tox, January 21, 1856. 
" Dear Sir : I have your favor of the 15th. I had already received from Mr 



408 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Chapman an account of the little meeting of the 10th, which though a failure in 
numbers, he thought in other respects valuable. 

" A short time since, having occasion to write to Mr. Trescot, a young gentleman 
of South Carolina, who, on my recommendation, was appointed by Mr. Fillmore, 
Secretary of Legation at London, I asked him what course he thought would be 
pursued at the South, if Mr. Fillmore should be nominated for the Presidency by 
the Know Nothings. I enclose you his reply, which you will be pleased to return 
to me, when you have read it. 

" I am very much concerned as to the state of our foreign relations. I fear that 
the controversy with England has been brought to a critical position, and that it is 
intentionally kept there. At the same time, I do not acquit England of great indis- 
cretion in formally organizing the Bay Islands as a new Colonial Government, so 
soon after engaging not to colonize any part of Central America. I have no doubt, 
however, that if she had been addressed in a conciliatory tone, she would have 
receded from that step, as she did from the occupation of Tigre Island, and the Sand- 
wich Islands. 

" In reference to the Mosquito protectorate, she was willing to agree to anything. 
Mr. Crampton said to me, ' We want to back out of it, but can't be kicked out.' 
The impertinent interference of Mr. Marcoleta, in which for party purposes he was 
sustained by the present administration party while in opposition, prevented the 
consummation of a very satisfactory adjustment, agreed upon by Mr. "Webster and 
Mr. Crampton. 

" I remain, dear sir, with great regard, faithfully yours," 

" P. S. I scarce need say in reference to the latter part of Mr. Trescot's letter, 
that there is not the slightest foundation for the insinuations of the editor of Mr. 
Calljoun's works. I have not yet seen the volume, and of course, know only by 
conjecture, the pretended grounds of the charges : — real grounds there are none." 

Hon. Hamiltok Fish to James A, Hamilton. 

" Washington, March 4, 1856. 

" My Dear Sir : I have very reluctantly been forced to the opinion expressed 
in your letter, that a Whig convention is impracticable. The old Whig party is 
disorganized and broken up. We need not look back for the causes which have 
led to this ; the fact is unquestionable, and the question arises, what are we, who 
still are Whigs in principle, to do ? 

"I do not see the way clear to the support of the American candidates upon the 
platform on which they are presented. They are not before the country as Whigs, 
but as ' Know Nothings,' — one of them was a Whig — the other was a Democrat. We 
cannot separate the support of the one from that of the other. As Whigs, we do 
not recognize the organization, the test?, the oaths, or in fact the principles of the 
Know Nothing organization. True, they have one principle which commends itself 
to every national man, of whatever party he may be; but in my opinion, that prin- 
ciple of Americanism is so universal that it cannot be the basis of party organization. 
I mean the principle of Americanism in the broad and literal sense in which it com- 
mends itself to national men—in which alone it can commend itself to old-fashioned con- 
servative national Whigs. Take this away and the Know Nothing party has little, if 
anything, to attract Whigs. But this broad principle is not peculiar to them. I be- 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 409 

iieve it is almost universal, and it is only when reduced to a narrow, intolerant or 
proscriptive rule, that it becomes peculiar to any party organization. 

'' Unfortunately the party winch has recently nominated Mcssr?. Fillmore and 
Donelson, has practically reduced the principle to one of exclusion and proscription. 
Donelson certainly has no claims upon us, he was a bitter reviler of every Whig 
measure, and of all Whig men — of Clay, Webster, Fillmore, and all othei-s. The 
name of Mr. Fillmore alone gives rise to question ; had George Law or Gen. Houston 
been nominated, we should not have counselled upon it. It is, therefore, only from 
personal regard and confidence in Fillmore that any question now arises. It is un- 
fortunate to be forced to support a candidate upon mere personal respect and confi- 
dence, when he is presented as the representative of principles which one does not 
approve. Mr. Fillmore is before the country now as a candidate to the exclusion of 
otbers with strong claims upon us as Whigs (Crittenden and Bell for instance,") 
who were excluded from competition for the nomination by the restriction of candi- 
dates to those who were initiated in the order. The intolerance and proscriptiveness 
of such a rule is utterly indefensible, unjust to individuals, ancl impolitic to tlie public 
interests. Elected upon this rule, Mr. Fillmore will be bound to act upon it, and 
I cannot believe that the best men of the country will consent to adopt the ritual, 
the secret oaths, the intolerance and the proscriptiveness which have been published 
as part of the creed and the practice of the Know Nothing party ; and I do not 
learn that they have disembarrassed themselves at their recent conventions of the 
objectionable features of their former organization and declarations, 

" I cannot see much promise of an elevated or pure administration, if the agents 
of the Government in all its ramifications are to be selected only from tliose Avho 
have taken the secret oaths of the K. IST. order. Mr. Fillmore will doubtless do 
what can be done to secure honesty, ability, and character in his agents and subor- 
dinates ; but his field of selection will be too various. Thoughtful conscientious men 
will not take the pre-required oaths, or qualify themselves for appointment to oflice 
by enrollment and initiation with a secret society. 

'' I entertain a very high respect for the personal character of Mr. Fillmore for 
his integrity and his patriotism. My personal relations with him are kind and 
friendly, extremely so— but not such as to blind me to some defects. ITc is a very 
bad judge of men; he has strong personal preferences, and still stronger antipathies, 
and of which designing men with selfish and sinister purposes can and do easily avail, 
to secure improper objects and to accomplish corrupt ends. He lacks the ready 
knowledge of men to detect and to prevent the designs which cuindity and malice 
and ambition will be ever attempting in the neighborhood of the high position for 
which he is now named. And to this defect in his character are to be attributed the 
corruptions, the peculation and the meanness which exhibited themselves in many 
places under his administration— more numerous, I fear, than under any otlier admin- 
istration ; and yet I believe him to have been as pure and incorruptible and as de- 
sirous to prevent corruption and peculation as any man who has filled the Presi- 
dential chair. But he failed in this respect most lamentably, and yet lie then had 
the whole country to select his agents from ; now he will be confined to those who 
consent to be qualified by the mystic initiation of a secret Lodge or Council. 

" Much of the difficulty which I see might have been and would have been re- 
moved by abrogating the secrecy, &c., of the K. N. organization and the rule which 
restricts the selection of candidates to members of the order. 



r 



410 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"But even then tlie question would have arisen how much of "Whig principle has 
Mr. Fillmore been obliged to lay aside in order to secure the nomination ? Either he or 
Mr. Donelrion must have relinquished much of their former principle, in order to 
come u[)on the same platform. Perhaps both have done ^o. "We are entitled to 
know huw they now stand, and I think we should know more than has yet been de- 
clared, before we, as "Whigs, transfer ourselves, or rather surrender to an organiza- 
tion which will gladly receive our votes, but admit us to no voice in suggesting the 
policy which is to be pursued. 

" I have been writing in haste and am obliged to go to Committee. I have 
written freely and rather by way of argument and suggestion than of conclusion, 
I confess tliat I feel much, very much reluctance to an endorsement of the nomina- 
tion. As matters now stand with the K. N. organization proscriptive and exclusive, 
with its oaths, its religious intolerance, &c., I do not see how I can give support to 
its nominees, whatever may be my personal regard for them or rather for one of 
them ; however, I shall think further before coming to a conclusion, and shall be 
very happy at all times to hear from you, on this or any other subject. 

" "V^ery faithfully yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Senate of the U. S., 

Washington. 

" Fevis, March 7, 1856. 

" My Deae Sie : Your very frank and instructive letter of the 4lli instant is 
received. I thank you for it. 

''• I did not suspect that the Fillmore administration was obnoxious to the charges 
intimated by you, or that his character was so deficient in essential points. They 
are very serious ones, and may well, if well-founded, induce much hesitation where 
they are believed. I was so little connected during that period with public atfairs, 
that my ignorance of such dark passages is not surprising ; I am gratified to learn, 
however, that they have not impaired your confidence in the purity of the chief of 
that administration. 

" As a National "Whig and as a citizen feeling a lively interest in the welfare of 
the country, I am disposed to support the nomination, because I believe it the safest 
and best that will be presented to our choice. I do not find in the platform of the 
K. N. party, as laid down at Philadelphia in February last, any thing (assuming, as 
you very properly do, that accepting the nomination he places himself upon the 
ground authoritatively taken by the party which presents him as their candidate) 
which will forbid him from supporting such a course of public policy as we as"^'higs 
have heretofore approved ; or which he as a Whig President has heretofore endeav- 
ored to carry out. I will not permit the odious machinery of that party, or theii* 
proscriptive policy, to induce me to suppose that Mr. Fillmore will be influenced at 
all in his official course by these characteristics of that party or to drive me from 
the support of the safest of the candidates presented to my choice. 

" From these and various other considerations connected with the harmony, the 
union and the well-being of our country, I believe it is the duty of conservative 
men of all parties, in the portentous condition of our affairs at home and abroad, 
to free themselves from party obligations, and so to give their votes and exertions, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 411 

as will most probably lead to tbe security of those cardinal poiuts of policy ■wliicli 
tbe safety and interest of the country demands. 

"I have believed that the National Whigs, as such, should at a proper time and 
place of meeting (to be designated by controlling minds), by a well considered paper 
to be signed by a few from each State, addressed to their fellow-Whigs, give them 
reasons for issuing such an address, and as Whigs, give their reasons for sustaining 
or adopting the candidates whom they believe will best deserve their confidence and 
support, but above all, that they should take advantage of the occasion to express 
their views in a very distinct and bold manner upon the disturbing questions of the 
day. We, as iSTatioual Whigs, have great strength as well in our numbers as in our 
principles, and while by the annunciation of these principles we will not probably 
recommend ourselves to the party confidence, or support of any one of the existing 
organizations, we will awaken in the great body of the cousiduratd men of this 
country a course of reflection and of action which will be of great utility, and may, 
in the disorganized condition of parties, produce decisive results. 

"I have found iu my limited sphere of observation that the nominations are 
approved, and they will most probably call back many from the ranks of the Fusion- 
is ts. 

" I hope that you may arrive at the conclusion I have adopted, and that we may 
work together in this important contest. 

" With great respect and regard, my dear sir, 

" Your friend, &c., &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. D. D. Baiinard, Albany, 

DoBBs' Fekry p. O., June 7, 1856. 

*'Dear Sir : I am not a little excited and much pained by recent events. The 
exasperation of the two great sections of the country may lead to fatal results. 
The assault upon Sumner, is, as respects the man, of the least importance. The at- 
tack ui)on the Senate, and the freedom of debate, cannot be submitted to ; particularly 
when we learn from the resolutions and meetings of the Southerners that they not 
only applaud the act, but say it was committed in the right place, and that they will 
not submit to the expressions of opinion such as he had uttered in regard to slavery. 
We certainly would not quarrel with our Southern fellow-citizens for indulging in 
such absurdities ; but at the same time we must not be deterred from the freest 
expression of opinion in Congress and elsewhere. This course of reflection brings 
ine to the principal object of this letter, which is to ask your views as to the pro- 
posed meeting of Whigs in Kentucky on the 4th of July next. 

" Ought we to go there; and if we' do go, what should be our course? I am 
urged by Union Whigs to represent this district. 

" Ought we to refrain from expressing our reprobation of the course of measures 
taken by the Government in Kansas ? our disapproval of the Repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise, and of the attack upon the Senate in the person of one of its 
members ? "With sincere regard, your obedient servant." 

Edward Everett to James A. Hamilton. 

"Juno 30, 1850. 

" I received your favor of the 27th on my return yesterday morning from New- 



412 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

port, where I have been passing eight or ten days to recruit my health, which has 
been a good deal impaired. 

"I am much gratified to hear that your children have crossed the water in 
safety. I pray you when you write to your daughter to convey to her my most 
kind remembrance. 

" I am afraid to promise to write the proposed Fillmore address. I have been 
under engagement for nearly a twelvemonth to prepare an address for the inaugura- 
tion of the Dudley ObservatDry at Albany, in August. Various disturbing causes 
have prevented my making the slightest preparation for an effort in which much 
will be expected of me by the savans of the country, assembled at the meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, which will be in session at 
that tiuK'. 

" Incapable of much labor, and with many engagements already on my liands, 
I feel as if I must reserve all my time and thought for the object mentioned. 

"I shall certainly give my own vote for Mr. Fillmore, of the candidates yet 
named. But I fear there is little hope of giving him the vote of Massachusetts. 
So large a portion of the ' Know l^othing ' party in the State was either originally 
made up of ' Free-soilers,' or has been swept by the late hurricane into the ' Repub- 
lican ' ranks, that the probability is greatly in favor of Fremont getting our vote. 
The old line Whigs, however, will I think, support Mr. Fillmore. 

" There is to be a meeting of their Committee on the 2d of July, and from their 
doings I shall be better able to judge. 

" There is no foundation for the report that I was to address a political meeting. 
Please make my kindest remembrance to the families at Nevis and the Cottage. 

" Sincerely yours." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Lewis Cass, Senator of the U. S. 

" August 8, 1856. 

"Dear Sir : I have the honor to enclose my reply to a published letter, address- 
ed to me by Mr. Barnard, also my reply to a letter addressed to me by Gov. Hunt. 
The necessity imposed upon me for replying to these letters, has given a prominence 
to my opinions which they cannot deserve; I will, however, take the liberty to 
direct your attention to that part of the last letter which treats of the Constitu- 
tional question in connection with the Missouri Compromise Act. It is said to have 
some force. 

" I avail myself of the privilege of an old friend to make a deeply interesting sug- 
gestion touching yourself, which as it proceeds from the highest public considera- 
tions as well as from private friendship, will, I am sure, be received without un- 
kindness. 

"It is very rare that a public man is placed in a situation to render the most 
eminent service to his country, nay, where by a given course he can entitle himself 
to be considered as the saviour of his country. It is believed that we have arriveJ 
at a crisis which involves the Union and Constitution of our country, and in tliem 
all that, as citizens of the United States, and as men and Christians, we ought to hold 
most dear. 

" Assuming this to be true, your position in the country, as the most prominent 
man in the Senate (who has voluntarily withdrawn himself from the line of prefer- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 413 

ment,) and a leader in the Democratic party, full of years and honors, justifies me 
in calling upon you to step forward, and if need be, to sacrifice yourself "with that 
party, to save it from defeat, and the Union from disruption. 

" Taking thus the worst view of the consequences of the course I am about to 
propose for your consideration and adoption, in relation to yourself; suppose you 
sacrifice yourself thereby, what man of true patriotism and courage would hesitate, 
if by such sacrifice he could save his country or render her a truly eminent service ? 

" Tlie simplest, most efficient, and most immediate remedy for existing evils, 
would be the restoration of the Missouri Compromise line, which would be done by 
the repeal of the Kansas and Nebraska bill, and the substitution of another territorial 
bill in its place ; such a bill has been, or may be, sent by the House attached to one 
of the appropriation bills. 

" Your course ought to be (I say this with great submission) to rise in your place, 
and in such terras as you so well know how to use, to express your determination 
to save the country from impending calamities, and to call upon your party and 
other men who are more devoted to the country than to their party or to them- 
selves, to unite with you in sacrificing themselves to the Union, the Constitution, 
the cause of the people of the United States, to the cause of liberty and humanity. 

" If, as must be the case, you shall persuade a suflicient number of southern Sen- 
ators, say — Bell, Hunter, Crittenden, Clayton and others, to carry the bill, you 
would be hailed throughout the country as the great pacificator, at a period of more 
imminent danger than any other to which our country has been exposed, certainly 
since tlie adoption of the Constitution. 

" I close this appeal to you on behalf of our country, by declaring, as the most 
earnest conviction of my heart, that if you will take such a course you will stand in 
the history of our country as second only to Washington himself. 

" The imminence of danger to the Union by the almost certain success of the sec- 
tional party of the Noi'th, must be my excuse for writing this letter. 

" Your friend." 

The Hon. Lewis (Vss to James A. Hamilton. 

""Washington City, August 11, 1856. 

" My Dear Sie : I have just received your letter, and hasten to answer it in the 
same spirit of friendship, in which I am sure it was written. I write you by another 
hand not for the sake of preserving a copy of my letter (that I never do), but to spare 
you the infliction of my handwriting. I am greatly obliged to you for the evidence 
of personal esteem which your letter furnishes, and I assure you that that feeling is 
fully reciprocated on my part. 

"I have read your letters to Gov. Hunt and to Gen. Barnard with much 
interest. Though I do not agree with you as to your constitutional views of the 
power of Congress, nor as to the remedy you propose for our difficulties, yet cer- 
tainly there is great force in your argument, while a spirit of patriotism pervades 
your letters, which is refreshing in this day of our troubles. You bear a glorious 
name, and may boast of a proud descent, which gives you a right to speak to your 
countrymen. I agree with you as to the dangers which threaten our country, but 
I consider the remedy you propose impossible in itself and inadequate to the occa- 
sion. You greatly overrate my power to be useful, but you cannot overrate the 



414 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

anxiety I feel. You propose that the Missouri Comproiuise line should be restored. 
That measure is iinpossible. If I should advocate it, it would gain hut one more 
vote in the Senate. I should not he followed by a sinjrle member of the Senate, 
whatever might be his politics or his local position. But I have long held that the 
Missouri line was unconstitutional. I believe Congress had no right to establish it. 
I believe it had no right to pass any law on the subject of slavery in the territories. 
I regretted the repeal of that restriction, I considered it unnc cessary and that it 
would lead to injury. But being required to vote upon the proposition, and believ- 
ing as I have said the clause was unconstitutional, 1 had but one course to take, and 
that was to vote for the repeal. It is impossible for me under any circumstances to 
co-operate in the re-establishment of that line. 

" But I have also an insuperable objection to the legislative process by which you 
propose to secure the consent of the Senate ; that is, by annexing to the appropria- 
tion bills necessary for the support of the Government, a provision for the restora- 
tion of the Missouri line. Such a mode of procedure would work a revolution in 
the Government. It would concentrate all power in the House of Representatives, 
and enable them to carry any measure they might seek to attain. It would substi- 
tute a consolidated government, the government of a numerical majority, for tlie 
present constitution, which is based not upon numbers only, but upon State sove- 
reignty also. So much for my views in brief. I have lived a long life, a believer in 
the intelligence of the country, and hopeful as to the duration of our institutions. 
But fear and doubt have overtaken them, and my confidence in the future is fast 
giving way. 

" I am, dear sir, with great regard, truly your friend." 

Edward T. Potter, Esq., to James A. Hamilton. 

" October 18, 1856. 

"My dear Sir: I have read with the greatest interest the 'Plan of Military 
Operations,' and shall always remember with pleasure the honor you have done me 
in allowing me to peruse it. 

" The generous manner in which you spoke of the duty of every citizen to sup- 
port and speak well of the Government, when at the same time they were not repre- 
sentatives of the Government, some of whom seem to me to hold views of their duties 
in this crisis far behind your own, and far behind the wishes of the people, made a 
deep impres-ion on my mind. 

"The plan made clear many points on which I wished to be informed, and assu- 
red me that statesmanship and humanity were not necessarily at variance. 

""With great respect." 

A CALL FOR A PUBLIC MEETING, IN 1856, TO ARREST DISUNION. 

By J. A, II. 

" Fellow Citizens : The subscribers believe that our Union is threatened with 
dissolution, our government with subversion : that the feelings of exasperation by 
one section of the country towards the other, are increasing every hour, and unless 
arrested must produce the most disastrous consequences. "We believe that this in- 
tolerant spirit was commenced by fanatics — was pushed by demagogues — has been 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 415 

continued, and is now made use of, by reckless partisan*, to promote their selfish 
ends : and that it has gone so far in mischief, that its authors stand appalled at the 
wreck of their own work. 

" Under the solemn conviction of these painful truths; believing as we do that 
the great body of the people who adopted our glorious Constitution to perpetuate 
the Union, are determined that it shall be preserved ; we invite you, regardless of 
party or personal diiferences, prejudices or partialities, to meet in council on 
day of , at 12 o'clock, in tlie Park ; not to express opinions in favor of or ngainst 

the various measures which are proposed in relation to the Territories, the District 
of Columbia, or in respect to the rights and duties of the North, or the South, the 
East or the West, but in commanding terms to express your solemn conviction that 
the Union under our Constitution is necessary to the preservation of our liberties ; 
and our firm determination, that at all hazards, it shall be preserved. And farther, 
that such mea-ures may be devised as will lead to the expression of the opinions 
and will of the whole people of the United States, through a convention of their 
delegates, to be holden on those important subjects, which now distract the coun- 
try, at no distant day ; or by such otlier measures as you may deem necessary, to 
arrest this fell spirit of disunion. 

" We ask in this great work the cooperation of the good, the wise, the patriotic 
of all classes and conditions, be their professions and callings what they may. 

"We invite all men, who can throw off their party allegiance, in obedience to 
their allegiance to the Union, to assist us in the holy work; upon the issue of which, 
we venture to affirm, depends the dearest interests and the brightest hopes, not only 
of this people, but of the masses of all mankind. Believing as we do, that to dissolve 
this Union for any cause, would be the greatest crime we could commit, and the 
deepest injury to the whole human race, wo are prepared to resist that calamity by 
any sacrifice that may be required. 

" We believe that with firmness, moderation and wisdom, under the guidance of 
Him who has hitherto protected our country in her various vicissitudes, all the 
points of difference between us maybe satisfactorily adjusted, and we respectfully 
ask, whether it is not eminently fit and proper, that the People of the Empire City 
and State should begin this great W(^rk of pacification, and that they should invite 
their hrethren of all sections of the country to unite with them in the expression of 
their determination that the Union shall be perpetual ; and in advising such a 
course of measures as will arrest the bitter strife now progressing with such inten- 
sity. 

" We adjure all men, by all they hold most dear, to renounce all former party 
ties, and to unite until the country shall be rescued, in the gre::t party of the Union 
of the country. 

" New York, February, 1856." 

James A. Hamilton to His Excellency Baron Humboldt, Berlin. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry, March 18, 1S57. 

"Baron: I have forwarded to my grandson, Mr. Philip Schuyler, a copy of tlie 
" Works of Hamilton," to bo delivered to you as soon as they are received. 

"I have the honor to present these works to you as a mark of my prof-und 
respect for your character, and as such I pray you to receive them. 



416 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"It seems becoming that one of the most distinguished statesmen of the United 
States of America should be known by his works to the most illustrious philosopher 
of his 8ge, 

" If I may be permitted to occupy your attention at some future day, it will give 
me a pleasure to point out such parts of this work as will interest you. 

" It is a remarkable fact, that the treasury system established in 1790 for the 
United States, when the population was about three millions, and the area was not 
one-fourth part of what it now is, should have the capacity of extension to such 
large proportions as the commerce and revenue now require. The system then 
formed with its details has not been essentially changed. 

"As to the public faith of the United States, it has been scrupulously pre- 
served ; although one important suggestion made by Hamilton has not in the-e latter 
days been heeded. In his first report to Congress, vol. 3d, p. 211, be expresses an 
ardent wish 'to see it incorporated as a fundamental maxim in the system of public 
credit of the United States, that the creation of debt should always be accompanied 
with the means of extinguishment. This he regards as the true secret for rendering 
2mUic credit immortaV This maxim was acted upon in the early period of the 
Eepublic, and thirty acts of Congress were passed to give it effect. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your obedient servant." 

A PLAN TO ASSIST IN BRINGING THE BREADSTUFFS FROM THE INTE- 
RIOR TO THE SEABOARD, TUENCE TO A FOREIGN MARKET, AND 
TO PROVIDE A SAFE AND CONVENIENT CIRCULATION. 

"The great diflaculty in moving the cereal products of the country arises, it is 
believed, from want of confidence. The ordinary machinery is wholly deranged or 
broken up. 

" It is supposed that the above produce might be purchased in the West by drafts 

on the New York banks at days, such drafts to be drawn by the agents or 

factors of the banks under a letter or letters to be addressed to him by such banks 
as would come into the arrangement, engaging to accept such drafts to the amount 
which each one would indicate by its letter and no more. It is supposed that the 
produce purchased could be sent to New York, shipped thence abroad, sold, and 

the proceeds thereof returned to New York in specie by steamers within 

days ; which would certainly be before the maturity of the drafts. Such proceeds 
(in toto) when received in New York to be placed in full on deposit to the credit of 
the agent or factor iu the several banks to meet the amount of drafts accepted by 
each of said banks, and to be held as a special deposit to pay such drafts and until 
they were all paid not to be subject to the control of the factor or any other person. 
The security to the acceptors would be absolute — the produce and its results both 
to be held by the factor in trust for the banks (the acceptors). In addition it is 
proposed that certain mercantile firms and bankers of known credit and responsi- 
bility should sign a paper engaging to the amount respectively set opposite to their 
names each for himself and not for another to secure the banks against any loss 
they might sustain by having accepted such drafts. 

"It may reasonably be supposed that a ftiir mercantile profit would result from 
the operation, which would be divided among the guarantors in proportion to the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 417 

amount of their respective responsibilities — no commissions, fees, or char-'es to l)o 
paid for the personal services of the factors in going to the West to umko fjjo 
purchases, or in going to England or other foreign places to make the sales and 
to bring back the proceeds. No commissions other than the broker's fee for 
purchasing, and perhaps for selling, to be charged in any form or shape in the 
transactions — freight, insurance, storage, drajage to be charged as actually paid 
and according to the bills therefor, together with the actual personal expenses of 
the factors. The balance of profit afcer deducting actual expenses as above with 
5 per cent, on such profit to bo paid to the factor for his trouble, to bo divided 
among the several merchants and bankers, the guarantors to the banks according 
to the respective amounts for which they had agreed to be bound. 

"It is believed that th.e banks of the city of New York being eecured against all 
risk of loss as well by the security of the guarantors as by the property and its 
specie proceeds purchased by their acceptances and held speciOc;dly for that purpose 
by the factor, governed by an enlightened sense of their own interest, and of the 
public good, would agree to accept such drafts, and it is believed that those drafts so 
accepted and guaranteetl, — and particularly when it was Avell understood tliat the 
whole amount of the proceeds of the sales in specie was to be deposited on arrival 
and held as a special deposit for the payment of those drafts, — it is believed such 
drafts, if of a convenient denomination, being secured beyond all peradventuro, Mould 
pass from hand to hand in payment of debts, ai.d thus form a not inconsiderable 
portion of the circulation. 

" It is suggested that the operation to be effective ought to be carried out by a 
credit as its basis of millions of dollars." 

James A. Hamilton to Paul Spoffokd. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., October 8, 1857. 

"Dear Sir : I have hastily put on paper the details of a plan of which I spoke 
to you yesterdny (to be shown to whom you please), by which the produce lying 
west may be brought to the seaboard, sent abroad, and the proceeds be returned to 
the banks in specie. There is a great advantage in this plan, which is that the 
drafts would afford a sound circulation, available at the west for its business there , 
and as remittmces in payments of debts to the East. 

" The drafts ought to be in convenient denominations, say in amounts of $.500 
and $1,000, made payable to the order of the sellers of the produce, and then to 
pass from hand to hand. These drafts at ninety days or four months, secured in the 
first place by the produce and its proceeds, iilwaysto be held specifically and absolute- 
ly to that end. These by the responsibility of the banks (the acceiitcrs), and the 
merchants (the guarantors) would give a circulating medium to the amount to which 
they should extend, and as long as they had to run, which would bo better than gi'ld. 

" The factor, it must be understood is, throughout the transaction, to hold tlio 
property and its proceeds, until those proceeds get to the banks where they are to 
remain as a special deposit until the drafts are paid. The factor or o; orator .should 
be a person not engaged directly or remotely in mercantile afl'airs. I say lliis 
because there woald not then be any fear or lurking suspicion that tlio enterpriao 
might be frustrated by the failure of the factor. I consider tlie fealuro of this 
project which extends it to the sale in a foreign port, and the return of specie as a 

27 



418 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

most important one. It would inspire greater confidence because it would secure 
the return of a large amount in specie. 

" If gentlemen are disposed to enter into the matter, I will go to the city to explain 
to parties, and solicit their cooperation, and I will, should no better operator be 
found <''ive my whole time and attention to the work. 

" By systematic and united exertions much may be accomplished. 
" With respect, your friend and servant, «&c." 

Messrs. Spofford, Tileston & Co. to J. A. Hamilton. 

" Few York, October 14, 1857. 

"Dear Sir: Our Mr. Spofibrd received your valued communication of the 8th 
instant in due course, and would have acknowledged it immediately, but the exciting 
state of affairs that existed throughout the city, and the consequent incessant 
demands upon his time, engrossed every moment of his attention, and he was unable 
to do so. He, however, requested the writer to address you in his behalf, and he 
also must offer his apologies, and plead a like excuse for not before complying with 
Mr. Spofiford's wishes. 

" Mr. Spofibrd desires to say, that the subject upon which you write had been 
taken up by a Committee appointed for that purpose on the day previous to the 
reception of your communication, and they decided that it was inexpedient to enter 
into any arrangement, as the banks were not in a position to extend the facilities 
that would be required. 

" We are, your obedient servants, &c." 

Edmunb H. Pendleton to James A. Hamilton. 

" Hyde Park, June 27, 1857. 

" My Dear Hamilton : When I received yours of the 22d, I had not seen the 
■article from the National InteUigencer, and not having seen Mr, Irving's 4th volume, 
I could not judge of the full import of his language. I have not now seen the 
volume, but have gained, I suppose, from your letter and from Webb's republication 
of the article, a sufficient knowledge of the matter. Mr. Irving, who has very nice 
sensibilities, ought, one would think, to have entered more cordially into your father's 
position which, involving generally a certain idea of superiority on the one side, 
naturally enough inspired the other with a sharper sense of punctilio. 

" The hard and unbearing character of the General must naturally have added to 
,a jealousy of itself sufficiently watchful. The historian should, besides, have allow- 
ed for that consciousness of what your father was, and to which he himself could 
not have been insensible, which lifted him up to the General's level as a man of 
genius, though not as a man of command. These ideas have not entered into Mr. 
Irving's mind, and he accounts for the quarrel in a far lower way. Since his Ma- 
homet, my dear Hamilton, Mr. Irving is not so formidable. His opinion, though of 
some influence, is not after all controlling, and if I were you, I should care very little 
about it. It was at most a sudden outbreak which, very properly, terminated the 
existing relation, and still more properly, produced no other efi'ect. 

" The history of the United States has left enough for both the General and the 
aids." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 410 

Governor John A. Kino to James A. Hamilton. 

" State of New York, Executive Department, ) 
Albany, December 26, 1857, ' J 

"My Dear Hamilton: Your letter of the 20th inst. was duly received- but to- 
day is the first leisure day I have had since my return from dining with tlie members 
of the Union Olnb, on the 19th inst. I have nearly completed my messafTe that is 
the rough and first draft. I begin by referring to the monetary convulsions of the 
year, which occurred when the country seemed to be full of prosperity and aijundance 
when suddenly confidence (the very breath of trade) was stricken down, and panic 
ruled throughout ; that the rim on the banks was not caused by the bill holders but 
by the depositors, and that points in the direction to which the remedy should be ap- 
plied ; that notwithstanding urgent appeals, I had declined to call the Legislature, and 
was well sustained by the resumption of the banks of their own motion and strength in 
60 days from suspension ; that in order to prevent future expansions, the relative 
proportion of coin to cash liabilities other than currency, which is already well 
secured, should be fixed by law — say from 20 to 25 per cent.; that the banks of New 
Orleans, which are compelled to have 30 per cent, in proportion to all their liabilities. 
withstood the convulsion which jirostrated all others, and to make the sum to be 
established secure by penalties. In this view, the Bank Superintendent fully con- 
curs, and will recommend it in his report to be presented soon after the meeting of 
Legislature. 

" I intend to tell the whole truth about the canals, and how much will yet be 
required to complete the enlargement ; that taxation must yet be submitted to for 
that purpose, and that it is both just and right that canal tolls should be reVmposed 
on all competing railroads, and they, as some compensation, be authorized to charge 
in their discretion, a half cent more per mile for passengers. I propose a registry 
law; call attention to the abuse of injunctions in the city of New York; and to 
Kansas in severe reprobation of the President's Message and course ; with the usual 
reference to local State matters and institutions. I shall be glad to receive what 
you have, or may prepare on the subject of Kansas, which you can send, or do much 
better, bring with you, at the beginning of next week, and take up your quarters with 
me. You will probably find my brother Charles with me, and as you were accus- 
tomed to work together in former days, you may continue to do so still. 

"Very truly yours, «tc." 

James A. Hamilton to Governor John A. King. 

"Nevis, December 20, ISoT. 

"My Dear King: Yours of the 2Gth inst. was received to d:iy. Tlie tojncs of 
your message are well chosen, and will be fearlessly treated. I have entire confi- 
dence in the truth of the saying ' the first blow is half the battle ;' in other words. 
that boldness in leading off" openly, and firmness in pressing on, has greater influ- 
ence upon the public mind in connnanding its assent thau any truth whieli dipeiuls 
upon reasoning or evidence — any other truth than that which is self-evident. 

" It is conceded that the run upon the banks was not by the bill holders, .ind 
that they had not the power to cause the suspension. The depositors by oombina- 
tion produced that result, as they always can. If the deposits are, as they rightfully 



420 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ought to be, made the basis of discounts, a larger basis of coin will be a security 
against that and other evils. But there is one other, which, perhaps cannot be 
reached. 

" A bank is the handmaid of commerce, and ought alone to discount paper, which 
is the result of real commercial transactions or sale, and purchase of goods or arti- 
cles of commerce. No loan should be made upon accommodation paper or other fic- 
titious paper made to that end. No loan should be made on stocks or other securi- 
ties on time. Such securities may be legitimately taken by a banker as collateral 
security for a note of the first character. As to the capital or credit of a bank being 
loaned to build railroads, or to make or sustain stock operations, that is entirely out 
of the question, and any bank which should be found doing either, should be dis- 
credited. In my view of this sabject so explained, the effect would be that every 
well-regulated bank would merely discount at one end of the counter what it would 
receive at the other end, and the amount of bills receivable would be the amount 
of bills discounted. Thus the credit of banks would be applied to enlarge the 
capital of traders in the regular course of m.ercai)tile transactions, and thus the 
trading of the country would be limited, or would be incapable of being extended 
beyond what was required by the country for any length of time, because it could 
not, if in excess of such necessity be profitable. 

" I rejoice that you intend to speak plainly about the canals, the tax, and a regis- 
try law. I always believed it bad policy to impoverish the great State enterprise, 
by allowing a private enterprise to run along it and take away its revenues. I sup- 
pose this Avas done to obtain influence. 

"I have not prepared any thing in relation to Kansas. It has occurred to me, 
however, that as the course of the President and his Southern backers may drive the 
people of that territory into civil war, it would be well to let your constituents under- 
stand from your message, which is read almost universally, the great leading facts, 
and the principles involved (particularly that the question is no longer that of slavery 
and only slavery), but is much higher than that or any other which can be pre- 
sented to any people— that is, the right of self-government ; and that if the President, 
or any other power of Government, should attempt to force the Lecompton Consti- 
tution (a base fraud) upon the people of Kansas, whether with or without slavery, 
they will be bound to resist such an attempt by force of arms, and that in such a 
contest you believe your constituents would not be indifferent spectators ; but on the 
contrary, that the Empire State would be true to her revolutionary history, and to 
the instincts of a free and eulightened people. 

" I write this as I feel — not to be adopted by you, but to convey the idea that re- 
sistance would, under such circumstances, be a necessary consaquence in that terri- 
tory, and a duty everywhere in our country. 

" I believe a strong expression by you, and by other Governoi's who will follow 
you, will be powerful to sustain Douglas and to intimidate Buchanan. 

"It will afford your friends in the Legislature the occasion for introducing re- 
solutions which the Democrats would be driven to support, or to ignore all their 
maxims in I'elation to the true source of Government. 

"The great error, not to say blunder, was by Pierce when he decided, in obedi- 
ence to the commands of the South, to consider the first Legislature a representative 
body for the people of Kansas; and particularly was it so when the House of Re- 
presentatives instituted an inquiry which resulted in proving most unquestionably 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 421 

that that legislature was a iisiirpatiou— the result of an armed and military invasion 
and adopted the conclusion of its Committee, 

"I hold the House of Eepresentatives to bo, in the contemplation of the Consti- 
tution, the highest power in the Government. It holds the purse-strin<'3 of the 
nation ; has alone the power to impeach the officers of the Government — the Pres- 
ident included. It is emphatically the grand inquest of the nation; and when it acts 
in that capacity, all the other powers are bound by its decisions. When charges are 
made of high crimes and misdemeanors against the President, a Senator, or other 
officer, the House of Representatives enters upon the inquiry of their probable truth, 
and if it decides that they are well founded, the President must submit to that 
decision, and for the time being, he must suspend his functions; and the Senate 
also must bow to such decision, and enter upon the trial of such impeachment. 
How much mure, then, are both bound, either to submit to the inquest found by the 
immediate and the only immediate representatives of the people, or to institute a new 
inquiry; and unless by such new inquiry it should be shown that the former was 
unfair or unfounded, there is but one course to pursue. Here was the great error 
of the President; and that 'original sin' runs through the whole, and has neces- 
sarily led to all the false and fatal consequences of murder and oppression. 

"If the first legislatui'e was a usurpation, the people were not bound to obey its 
enactments ; and the President could not justly or legally require them to do so. In 
this view, the Conventitm which formed the Lecompton Constitution could nut be 
the representatives of the people, or their sovereignty ; but in addition to this, that 
convention was not the rei)resentative of the people of Kansas from the facts given 
by Mr. Walker, &c. 

"I have allowed my pen to run away with me ; I cannot even ask yon to read 
this long letter. I will get up to see you some time during the winter; but regret 
to say my health dues not permit me to do so now. 

" Yours with regard, &c." 

Note. — The association referred to in this letter was prompted by Mr. C. 
L. Brace, a most distinguislied philanthropist ; to Avhom is due the merit, with 
other benevolent works, of organizing the News-Boys' Asylum. 

The writer, as a member, contributed some mone}-. It was called the T'iiie 
Growers' Associatmi ; and was so successful in bringing that class of persons to 
the country and passing along them to Missouri, that the hill-tops which they 
bought as most suitable for vino-bearing, sold at first at 50 cents an acre, ad- 
vanced in price to $8 the acre. The State of Missouri incorporated a com- 
pany for the same purpose. 

James A. Hamilton to llts Excellency John A. King, Governor, &c. 

"Albany, X. Y., Juno 11, ISoS. 

" My Dear Sik: Sundry' gentlemen are associated together to encoura;,'o euiigra- 
tion by protectiim and assistance; the latter, not by payir.g for land, pa.>v'-a};e 
money or in any other form, but by diffusing throughout Europe accurate and use- 
ful information in relation to our States and Territories, soil, clim.-ito, minerals &c., 
ttoough publications in various languages, by the employment of projier aiionts at 



422 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

home and abroad, by making arrangements witli shippers and raih'oads as to fares. 
You know, as all the world does, that emigrants have heretofore been exposed to 
the most odious frauds ; so much so, indeed, as to deter many of the most desirable 
■workmen of Germany from coming out. "We do not intend to participate in any 
way in the party or political questions of the day, or to influence emigrants in thesa 
respects. 

" To ensure success in this important, most useful, and patriotic work, it is 
deemed essential to present the names (particularly to the magnates and people 
abroad) of men of high official and social station as our associates, and thus to se- 
cure confidence here ; and particularly abroad in the form to afford protection and 
confidence in the statements we may set forth. To this end, I have named you as 
one to whom I would address this letter, in the hope that you will unite with us in 
this work. 

" You will not be called upon or expected to participate in the labor of this 
work. The organization is, that the Trustees or Association should select from their 
number a President and Treasurer, with three or five others who shall be an Execu- 
tive Committee charged with the whole work. 

" I hope you will do me the favor to consent to be an associate in this enter- 
prise, and also to submit this letter to our friend Mr. Barnard, and ask him iu my 
name to do the same. We believe the estimation in which he'is held here, and par- 
ticularly in Prussia, where in his official character he was held in so much respect, 
will be of great use to us. We hope that this Association, by the distinguished 
character of its members, selected from all parts of the Union, will entitle us to the 
countenance of our own and the governments of other countries. 

" I have the honor to be, with respect and regard, 

" Your friend and servant." 

FIFTH VOYAGE TO EUROPE.— 1858. 

Between the autumn of 1851 when I returned from the Yachting 
expedition, until July, 1858, when I made another voyage to Europe for 
the benefit of my health, I employed most of my time with my books ; in 
utilizing the advantages of my country residence by bringing the water from 
the pond I had formed to this house, a distance of over four thousand feet, 
and conveying it to a reservoir which contains 132,000 gallons ; and also building 
an addition to my house ; with the accustomed attention which every man of lei- 
sure gives or ought to give to public affairs by promoting the success of the 
party of his choice. The true view of the exercise of the electoral franchise 
is, that every man votes not only for himself, but as a trustee for those who 
are not allowed to vote. In voting, therefore, he is bound to perform that, as 
he would any other trust, conscientiously, and so as to promote the " general 
welfare." 

In Paris, iu 1858, I addressed the following letter to a dear friend. 

James A. Hamilton to a Fuiend. 

" Paris, September 80, 1858. 
"My Dear General: When I made you an evening visit shortly befor* my 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 423 

departure for Europe, I Lad no more idea of this voyage than you have of tnkinir 
the same at this moment. The fact is, I decided one Sunday morning, after a very 
bad night, to try what the ocean would do for me, and I sailed on "Wednesdav. 

"The hounding billow was not a match for dyspepsia, and rendered mcno ser- 
vice. On the contrary, I was worse when I landed tlian I was before my departure. 
However, under the advice of an English physician in London, Dr. Eliottson I am 
much better. So much for all that, which is of no consequence. 

" In order to spend an agreeable hour, I have takeu up my pen to gossip with 
you about this light-hearted, happy people. 

" During all the time I have been here, nearly a month, the weatlier has been 
charming. The people appear to be all in the streets an I public places. Tliey are 
certainly industrious, and they seem to have more time to give to pleasure than any 
people I liave ever seen. My view embraces almost all Europe and the United 
States. 

" I think the Parisians love noise and talking better than any thing in the world 
— both are cheap pastimes. The street criers, the small trumpets to call attention 
to small wares, the smacking of whips, the calls to the horses, and the squalling of 
the animals (you know they are all studs), with the beating of drums and the thunder- 
ing of cart and carriage wheels, make night and day equally hideous. Thj3 only period 
of quietude is between two and three in the morning. Before four, you begin to 
hear the " busy hum of men." The next, and this, a great pleasure, is to talk : and to do 
so most vehemently at all times, under all circumstances, and upon the most trilling 
occasion. In the Cafes, particularly that one where chess is played, La Rugence, 
you might suppose at times that Pandemonium was let loose. Yesterday I was 
there to see the American champion, Paul Morphy of Louisiana, play with the most 
expert man in France. The Frenchman requested ^Ir. Morphy to go to a private 
room above, as the noise in the open room distracted his attention. Lnmodiatcly 
the whole crowd was in discussion at the top of their voices as to whether that 
request should be granted or not. You would have supposed from the noise, vio- 
lent gesticulation and manner, that the question involved the most vital interests of 
all present. Mr. Morphy, who is a young man of very good manners, decided to go 
np stairs where his antagonist wanted to be. and began his game. The contest 
now stands 4 for Morphy to 3 for L. 

"On Monday, Morphy played eight games at one time without looking at a board 
— he won six, and two were drawn games. A most remarkable eflbrt of memory. 

" If you purchase any article, and pay for it without a chat, the seller is not well 
plensed. It is this passion for talking which has created the habit first of exaggera- 
tion, and now of absolute falsehood. Truth is altogether a secondary matter with 
this people. "Wanting the good faith of the Americans and English, the Frenchman 
never considers himself bound to a bargain until he has been before the notary, or 
signed a memorandum in writing. In short, this people liave less regard for tlio- 
truth than any other people I have ever seen, except the Russians. Absolutely^ 
they seem not to know what it is. 

" The cafes, restaurants, and other places of entertainment are the field of a 
Frenchman's enjoyment. Here they talk and eat and drink; coffee, light wine, 
a very light beer, and sugar-and-wator are the almost universal drinks. 'N^ hen 
coffee is furnished, four lumps of sugar are \n\t on a plate. IIo who lia-^ c:dlcd 
for the coffee, pockets all the sugar he docs not use. Universally in these places 



424 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

a young, well-looking and well-dressed woman, seated at an elevated desk, keeps 
the accounts and receives tbe money. By the wny, the women are generally 
the workers in the shops, in this city, as well in receiving the money, as selling the 
goods and keeping the accounts. They are up to all manner of seductive arts to 
induce men and women, in despite of their purposes, to buy their goods. On a 
former visit to this vast metropolis, gangs of women were seen sweeping the streets, 
a man snpcrintending them. On this visit, I have seen two more assisting to sweep 
for the garbage carts, the women having short petticoats, woolen stockings, woolen 
shoes, with very large straw' hats hung on their backs in case of rain. The dress of 
the women from the continent, as well as Scotland and Ireland, surprises our coun- 
trywomen. Like the crackers of Georgia, they go without bonnet>-, and wear very 
short petticoats, that when they are working in the fields, which all the poorer classes 
do, they may not be embarrassed by their skirts. It is no uncommon thing to 
see a woman in the highway with a long deep basket strapped to her shoulders, simi- 
lar to those used in picking grapes in the vineyards, into which she throws with a 
scoop the horse-droppings. 

"When posting, I have frequently seen groups of men standing chatting at the 
door of " the Poste aux Ohevaux," and the women come out and harness the horses 
to the carriage. Indeed, I once saw a woman and a cow harnessed to a plough 
which a man was holding and directing. Such is the condition of the fair sex in 
this country of gallantry and high civilization. 

" You know that the peasantry of France live in villages — a condition of life con- 
sequent upon the feudal system, when the Baron or Lord gathered his dependants 
within the wall which surrounded and protected his chateau or castle, and thus were 
his ' villains ' protected, as well as at hand for his service in defensive or offensive 
war. Thus it is that you never see the rural and picturesque farm-house and farm, 
as in the United States and England, with the neat door yard, flower garden, well, 
and oaken bucket. From these clustered habitations have grown up the villages of 
very high stone houses with small windows, the residences of several families, hav- 
ing usually a common entrance and stair-case as dirty as are the narrow and crook- 
ed streets without sidewalks, from which they enter. And when they (laborers, men 
and women) go out to their work in the morning, the children are either carried to 
the field to remain there all day, or if there is one child too young to work (under 
ten years of age,) but old enough to give food to the othei's, they are locked in the 
apartment to remain until nightfall. 

" The Minister of Public Instruction under Louis Philippe, Mons. D , asked 

a friend of yours in his travels through France to examine the schools then just es- 
tablished. He did so, and on his return to Paris, the Minister asked his opinion. 
The reply was, ' They are very well, but you do not begin early enough.' ' What 
do you mean ? ' ' The women of France can't give their children those important les- 
sons which mothers alone can give, because their lives are spent at work in the fields.' 
lie replied, ' But, sir, if the women did not work, they would not be worthy to be 
the mothei's of Frenchmen.' 

"Talleyrand talking to me about the education of the people said, 'Ah ! but the 
difficulty is to know where to stop.' Be assured the opinion generally in these des- 
potic countries is, that if education is not stopped before people learn their rights 
imd duties, they will not patiently bear their burdens, social, civil, or ecclesiastical, 
■and they may attempt to throw them off. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 4:25 

"I hope you will pardon these mnrginal notes. I return to niy text " i)ear 
"Woman." The women of Paris are under-sized. They have good fi"uros dress 
with great taste, are graceful and walk well. Their accents are sweet, and tlieir 
phrases of the prettiest kinds; they are certainly not handsome. 

"I have often thought tliat it' the condition of ' the sex,' was made the test of 
the highest grade of civilization (and why is not a good one?) the people of the 
United States would stand first in that rank. ISTo people in the world treat their 
■women with so much just consideration, so much delicacy and attention as we do. 
They are considered, as they ought to be, the equals of the lords of the creation in 
all respects in which their superior delicacy of organism permits them to be. Tiieir 
feebleness and shrinking delicacy is one som-ce of their power, I hope it will be 
long before "our strong-minded women " will degrade them by attempting to place 
them in a sphere in which that power would be lost, and fir which they were never 
intended. 

" The Men of France. — This is a fruitful subject which I cannot venture upon at 
present. They are without a sound and Avholesome religious faith in any thing; 
they are dissolute, brave, intellectual, cheerful, careless of the future, impetuous. 
With them the Sabbath is neither a day of rest or w^orship, but one of labor and 
pleasure. The public work goes on, on that Haj as on any other. 

" One third of all the children born in Paris are illegitimate. That odious mar- 
riage by St. Jacques is fruitful of the greatest dissoluteness. It is said to happen 
thus : A single man and a single woman, agrisette, each have their room in the same 
house, and each boils a pot and provides the daily meals. They meet again and 
again on the common stairway, until at length it is proposed as an economy that the 
two should pay but one rent and boil but one pot, this is agreed to, and this is wnc 
marriage par St. Jacques. 

" The men almost universally smoke (they take less snuff than they used to do). 
The women are addicted to the same vice, and yet I never saw a spittoim in France, 
they do not " void their rheum." Indcv.d, I believe there is but one man in Paris 
Avho ranks as a gentleman, who chews tobacco, and spits over the floor, and he has 
from his high diplomatic station, permission to do so. 

" The American Minister is a kind, intelligent gentleman, who receives all his 
countrymen and entertains as many of tliera as his means will allow. 

'• I now turn to another and a graver subject, the political condition of Franco. 
Without promising to be as well informed as most of the returned American travel- 
lers who 30 frequently assure us, upon the very best authority, that this govoriimont 
is shortly to be overthrown, I may express my conviction that it is more stable now 
than any other that has existed in La Belle France, for the last half century. 

" 'Paris is France.' 

"Although in many respects this is true, it is eminently so as to revolutions of 
government, ^^nd the sagacious statesman who now holds the reins well under- 
standing this, with a wise policy has taught i\\Q Bourgeoisie, and all others who 
have property, and therefore a stake in the country, to believe that V Empire c mt 
lapaix — "the Empire is peace," not alone as to other nations but at hduie. lie 
has gratified the vanity of the Parisians by his adorjunent of cher Farin, having' 
made it by all odds the most beautiful city in the world, and also by commanding iho 
respect and exercising a controlling influence over the atlairs of all the llie unlionB 
of Europe; at the same time he has thus assured their confidence and ngard, not- 



426 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

withstanding the energetic repressive spirit of his internal administration. He takes 
care to bring home by his military displays during every hour of every day to their 
convictions and fears that he has the power at any moment to "crush out" any 
insurrection in Paris, however formidable may be its numbers, or secret and effici- 
ent its organization. 

"It is well understood here that upon his death at present, and particularly 
by any act of violence, a civil war would be inevitable, and that such a war would 
not only devastate France, but would be as fruitless for good government or free 
institutions as were the revolutions of 1848. It might destroy the thrones and 
principalities of the whole continent and probably inaugurate in their stead crude 
systems of ' Democracie social and political,' or ordain and establish the government 
of the sword. I feel assured that no political event could at this moment be so injuri- 
ous to the civilized world as would be the death or deposition of ' Napoleon tlie III.' 

" The almost universal detestation in France of the late attempt at assassina- 
tion, and the general feeling of hostility against England because she was believed 
(without any good foundation) to be an accomplice in that atrocity, is a proof that 
the act was not only unpopular, but that the end it hoped for would have been de- 
plored as a great national calamity. 

" The army is the great engine of power at home and abroad. Cherbourg is a 
threat to England which she writhes under, but dare not resent. The entente cor- 
dials between Paissia an J France is well understood to be the assurance of peace 
between the two latter powers and the former. The Villa Franca possession, as a 
naval depot under a commercial guise by France, has roused the ire of the press 
and people of England, while on the part of France, although it is within ten miles 
of Toulon, it is looked upon W'ith complacency, if not w^ith satisfaction. The news- 
papers of Paris retort upon those of London, by calling their attention to Periui, as 
among tlie last fruits of their robber propensities. The truth is, with a great many 
good qualities, John Bull's regard for the rights of others, and his affected respect 
fur the principle of non-intervention is a great humbug, and almost as egregious an 
hypocrisy as is his advocacy of free trade. He is continually abusing the people of 
France as ' stupid and ignorant,' because tliey will not cotnpel their government to 
admit English woolen and other manufactures free of duty. By the way, as a proof 
of the hollovvness of their hypocrisy, recall the fact, that they tax our tobacco 
1600 per cent. ; that when they found we were competing with them in the Cal- 
cutta market in the sale of cotton yarns, they imposed a duty upon that article from 
the United States of 10 per cent., while their own was free ; and to the other fact, 
that of tiie fifty-sis millions of annual revenue twenty-two millions are derived 
from duties on articles of foreign commerce, introduced into the United Kingdom. 
How long will the industry of the most ingenious and enterprizing people of the 
world continue to be paralyzed by the humbug of free trade so industriously urged 
upon all nations by that one, which by their long continued protective system, 
boasts to have become the workshop of the world. Her war upon China had no 
other object or end in view, as is now avowed, but to compel that ancient and highly 
civilized people to bow down to the manufacturers of Leeds, Sheffield, and Man- 
chester. h\ this connection, I beg to call your attention to the abuse of our country 
by the English pre=s, in relation to that war. We are now told that our minister play- 
ed the part of the jackal to the lion. The truth is, the President could do no more 
than he has done. It is n )t very clear that he has not done more than he liad the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 427 

right or legal power to do. We had no cause of war witli China, or if wo liaH un- 
til it was declared by Congress, the President liad no power to make war or even 
to make a show of war, or au attempt at intervention, and thus to bring on a war. 
If such an att-ick by England had been made upon a continental power, and we had 
taken the attitude on the coast of such power we did take on the coast and in the 
waters of China, we would have been considered and treated as an enemy, and thus 
a war would have been made by the President in plain violation of the constitution. 
"When our Constitution was formed, the clause restricting the power to make war 
and giving it to Congress alone was held to be a great safeguard. lias it proved so ? 
Of the two great wars we have had, one, that with Mexico, was made by the Presi- 
dent. The other, that with England, by Congress. In how many other of its 
provisions has our Constitution become a dead letter, I do not mean to say. The 
expedient from which so much was expected, and in rehition to which at one time 
so much was hoped and promised, has not yet been tried. The experience as to 
governments is slow but sure. I fear that the hopes of the patriot are not so san- 
guine as to the result as they have been. "When Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, declared 
in his pLice in the Senate that he believed the Congress of the United States was 
the most corrupt body in the world, he was called upon to repeat, but not to ex- 
plain, to prove, the assertion, or retract it. This acquiescence is of most fearful im- 
port. The question still remains to be answered, was this assertion true? If yea, 
what can be said in favor of popular government ? I confess I have fearful fore- 
bodings. Of one thing I am quite sure, that universal suffrage in onr cities, with 
our foreign and pauper population, whose votes are directed by tlie -worst men, is a 
complete failure, and most of the good and sensible in New York now believe it 

to be so. 

" Yours truly." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Francis P. Blah;, Junior. 

" DoBBs Feeey p. O., November 29, 1859. 

" Dear Sir : "We look with the deepest anxiety to the course of events connected 
with the organization of the House of Representatives. 

" It is frequently the case that individuals from blind selfishness lose the hap- 
piest opportunities of their lives to promote their interests and characters ; and so I 
fear it will be with the Republican party on this occasion. Good fortune, in my 
opinion, has placed them in a position in which, by a magnanimous policy, they can 
without the sacrifice of interest and i^rinciple consolidate a union of all parties of 
the opposition, and thus render that opposition invincible, not only for the present, 
but the most important future. 

" Let the 113, generous in their strength, say to the Anti-Locompton Democrnts 
and the South Americans, numbering together, I believe, less than cue third of their 
number (thirty-one in all), we will take the speaker in the person of Mr. * 
and propose to one faction to nominate the clerk, the other the door-keeper, lihni- 
rian, a sergeant-at-arms, and let the fourth officer be disposed of. if necessary, hy 
the union of the one third, thus proving that the Republicans are capable of largo 
sacrifices to carry out, with success, their patriotic etibrts to re.-cue tlio country 
from the misrule, nay, the corruption of the sham Democracy. 

"Should such a course be taken promptly, openly, gracefully, it would so weld 



423 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the opposition together into a solid mass as to strike terror in the administration 
and its adherents. It would, I have no douht, render certain our power and con- 
troh To do this effectually, it ought to be done before any attempt is made to 
take all the offices. If attempted after defeat, it would be yielding to a necessity, 
and therefore without any merit. 

" As Winter Davis well said, ' Success is a duty,' and consequently it is the duty 
of all the members of the opposition, and particularly of the strongest one, to make 
all these sacritices of interest or ambition by the parties or individuals which may 
be required to perform that duty, that is, to command success. 

" I most earnestly hope that our party are up to so enlightened a course, and 
that they will pursue it. 

"If the expression of my opinion can be of any use whatever, you are at liberty 
to do with this letter whatever will conduce to that end most efficiently. 
" With great respect, I have the honor to be, yot;rs, &c." 



HINTS, 1859. 

'•The following is the President's reply to an invitation to attend the recent 
Centenary Celebration at Pittsburgh : " ' November 22, 1858. I shall assume the 
privilege, &c., in referring to another growing and dangerous evil. In the last 
age, although our fathers, like ourselves, were divided into i)olitical parties, yet 
we never heard, until within a recent period, of the employment of money to 
carry elections. Should this practice increase until the voters and their represent- 
atives, &c., shall become infected, the fountain of free government will then be poi- 
soned at its source.' 

"This is a distinct allegation of an existing practice, 'a growing and dangerous 
evil ; ' and I will add, that it is an admitted truth. But we have a right to assume, 
when the President of the United States asserts openly and plainly that there exists 
as a practice the employment of money to carry elections; that upon investigation 
he had ascertained this to be true, he would never have made so damaging an 
accusation upon mere presumption. Let us have the truth, and the whole truth on 
this subject. Let us inquire as to the amount of money which has been assessed 
upon the office-holders in Washington and elsewhere under this Administration to 
be employed in elections; and whether this is or is not made under the threat ex- 
pressed or implied of removal in case of refusal, and wliat number of removals have 
followed refusals. 

" This practice of assessment creates the necessity for increase of salary, and thus 
it in effect is Avithdrawing so much money from the public treasury by a political 
party to sustain itself in power. 
\^- "In the Democratic Review for August, 1858, we find in a biographical sketch 

these remarks : ' In October, l^^5^, he (the object of the sketcli) was chairman of the 
« New York Tlotel Committee, composed of many of the most active and prominent 
f commercial men in the city of New York, which wisely devoted its efforts to the 
Pennsylvania State election ; and in carrying the State, undoubtedly contributed 
greatly to the election of Mr. Buchanan.' That the author of this sketch is said to be 
the gentleman Avho was appointed District Attorney of New York, in place of the 







UEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 429 

Hon. John McKeon. Busy rumor has said that a very dlstinguislicd member of 
that body was present at that meeting at which a very large amount of money 
from $50 to $150,000, was raised and employed in the State election in Pennsylvania 
in October, 1856 ; and tliat it was in this way that the distinguished men of tliat 
meeting so wisely devoted its efforts to that election. It may be that Mr. Buchanan 
may have had this meeting in view when he wrote that Ltter. However all this 
may be, we want to have the facts — we want to know whether any, and what 
amount was raised; how it was employed, or in what way those wise merchants of 
New York directed their efforts to the State election in Pennsylvania, in 185G, and 
thus secured Mr. Buchanan's success in the presidential election. And, as next im- 
portant to this subject, we would like to be informed whether any and what postal 
arrangement followed these wise efforts, which may have compensated the ' active 
and prominent commercial men of New York' for their sacrifices and services 
on that occasion ; whether money or money's worth, the bestowal of offices, 
jobs, or contracts employed in elections, does not make much difference as to 
the effect upon the character of our elections and of the people who are engaged in 
them. 

^ " This practice enlists in this party conflict the very worst class of our citizens ; 
consequently as that class must reap the spoils of victory, the offices are given to 
men without any regard to their character or fitness, and the jobs and contracts are 
given to the relatives and dependents of those who hold offices, executive and legis- 
lative, and thus your legislatures are poisoned at the ?ame time. 

" Another evil is, that those who hold offices are corrupted by their success, if 
they were not so before. As an illustration of this trutb : at this moment those who 
are in ofBce, observing with the deepest anxiety the signs of the times, begin to be- 
lieve that their party (the great Democratic party) is rent by dissensions — the advo- 
cates of Squatter Sovereignty on one side with a most distinguished chieftain at their 
head — and those who well know that should that dogma prevail, there is an end of 
all hope of another slave State being added to this Union. On the other side, the 
brothers are arraying their legions respectively for a desperate contest in Charles- 
ton. These portents are magnified by their fears into inevitable conclusions, which 
threaten destruction and defeat. Again, keen hounds have scented the air, and they 
are reluctantly beginning to fear that that great party which has inscribed on its 
banner 'Free soil for free men— retrenchment and_ reform,' may, in 1S60, be the 
victors. 

"Thes3 waiters upon Providence having but one object in view, regardless of all 
their professions of faith in Democracy, and the party of their political or social 
or any other principles are preparing to betray their employers and friends by lo- 
coming informers; and at the proper time to betray their colors. 

"This is one of the debasing consequences of those frequent changes of offices, 
and making them the reward of partizan services. 

" Macaulay, in his History of England, referring to the changes of a political char- 
acter by the frequent changes in Great Britain which marked its history from tlio 
beginning of the reign of the first Charles to the end of that of the second Chario-s, 
uses this emphatic language when speaking of the politicians : 

'"During these events no man could be a stirring and thriving polisician. wlio 
was not prepared to change with every change of fortune. One who in >ncli an a^e 
is determined to attain civil greatness, must renounce all thought of con.-ist.^n. y. 



430 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

He must seize the exact moment for deserting a foiling cause. Having gone all 
lengths with a faction while it was uppermost, he must suddenly extricate himself 
from it when its difhcullies hegin— must assail it, must persecute it,_must enter upon 
a new career of power and prosperity in company with new associates. His situa- 
tion naturally developes in him to the highest degree a peculiar class of abilities, and 
a peculiar class of vices. He becomes quick of observation and fertile of resources. 
He catches without effort tbo tone of any sect or party with which be chances to 
rain<de ; he discovers the signs of the times with a sagacity which to the multitude 
appears' miraculous. But we sliall seldom find in a statesman (say placeman or parti- 
zan) so trained integrity, consistency, or any of the virtues of the noble family of 
truth. He has no faith in any doctrine ; no zeal for any cause. He has seen so 
many old institutions swept away that he has no reverence for prescription. He 
sneers alike at those who are anxious to preserve, and at those who are e;iger to re- 
form. There is nothing in the State which he could not, without a scruple or a blush, 
join in defending or in destroying. Fidelity to opinions and to friends seem to him 
mere dullness and wrong-headedness. Politics he regards not as a science of which 
the object is the happiness of mankind, but as an exciting game of mixed chance and 
skill.'*'''* 'Ambition, which in good times and in good minds is half a virtue, 
now disjoined from every elevated and philanthropic sentiment, becomes a selfish 
cupidity, scarcely less ignoble than avarice.' " 



OFFICIAL DELIXQUENCY. 

" The existing coui-se of party discipline and consequently of personal sub- 
serviency dates back to (1829) eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, when 'The 
Northern man with Southern principles' was appointed Secretary of State by Gen- 
eral Jackson. 

" ' The Albany Eegency,' so famous and so efficient because so implacable in its 
resentments, distinguished its reign of terror in the State of New York by removing 
De Witt Clinton from the office of Canal Commissioner. 

"The name of that illustrious Governor of New York will bring to the recol- 
lection of the country the fact that the foremost work of internal improvement in our 
country (the Erie Canal) was due to his sagacity and intrepidity as a politician ; and 
that he was the victim under the direction, and I may add at the instigation of that 
' mousing politician ' who inaugurated at Washington the detestable and corrupt- 
ing practice of removing all men from office who do not cry hosanna to the existing 
national administration, which is illustrated by the apothegm of party, which a very 
superior man to him of Albany had the effrontery to announce : ' To the victors 
belong the spoils.' 

" I hold that of all sayings uttered in the English language there is but one more 
offensive, and that is, ' That the black man has not any right which a white man is 
bound to respect ; ' these two sayings will, until both are repudiated practically, as 
well as by the party and the political intelligence and morality of the country, place 
the Government and people of the United States in a very dangerous as well as dis- 
reputable eminence. 

"Martin Van Buren has the merit or disgrace of having inaugurated the prac- 
tice, at every change of party of making a thorough change of oflScers of the Gov- 
ernment. The actual President, Buchanan, has gone a step further, he has adopted 
the rule which all the party hacks will hereafter insist upon, that at every change of 
President, a clean sweep must be made. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 431 

" It is related that when this course commenced, Mr. Marcy, reminded of hib 
saying, 'To the victors belong the spoils,' promptly replied : ' I did not mean to de- 
spoil onr own camp.' 

" The rule now is, that the ofBces of the Government of all ranks and dirtinctions 
are to be held up as the reward of party services ; and that to the President, as the 
head of the party and the dispenser directly and indirectly of the vast patronage to 
which I have referred, all services are due. 

" Witliout going into the obviously injurious consequences to the public affairs, 
to the fidelity in the just performance of difficult duties which can only be learned 
by practice, I will merely refer to its corrupting iutlaence upon the people of the 
country." 

BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. 

" '^\ e have seen that a most efficient scheme of party discipline, as subtle, as 
absolute, as unrelenting as that of Loyola has been established at the Capitol of the 
United States; which permeates every part of the body politic of the country. 

" Let us ascertain the aim and end of this great achievement. Is it to promote 
the great e_ponomic interests of the United States? To secure the brotherhood of 
the peoide of the State? To enlighten the masses as to the true principles of thcii- 
Government ? To elevate their moral and political principles ? To teach them that 
to preserve the public, thej' must cherish personal liberty, which involves freedom 
of speech, of thought, of action, and tliat tlie first duty of a citizen of tlie Republic 
is to canvass frankly and honestly the measures of the National, the State, and the 
Municipal administrations ; and so to exercise tlie right of sutlVage as to carry out 
their lionest convictions, regardless of personal or party influences or powers. 

" We find no one of these great virtues and duties taught or practised, or even 
referred to in the platforms or programmes of the parties ; on the contrary, absolute, 
imhesitating obedience to the dogmas of the party; in the name of tiie Democracy, 
and at the shrine of its power, and to the President as its great high priest, all free- 
dom of sympathy, of thought, or of action is sacrificed; and all this is done in 
order that a few men may enjoy power and place, and fatten on the plunder of the 
])ublic Treasury. 

" The President, backed by this great power, to sustain his administration and 
policy, and the Democratic party, has, as is demonstrated, tampered with a member 
of this body, the Congress, and directly influenced his actions. 

" Let us have a fair and thorough search into the changes of votes of members 
upon the two great measures before referred to, and the influences which produced 
such changes; and I venture to assert a scene of corruption will be laid bare, whicli 
while it justifies the anathema of the Senator from Georgia, will shock the public 
sense more tlian any other development yet made. 

" The President has a propensity for interfering with, and giving a direction to 
Legislative action. His efforts are not confined to Congress ; but at a very early 
day were directed to the Legislature of Pennsylvania in the choice of her Senators. 

"His interferences in the popular elections liave been so frequent and so glaring, 
as to render it unnecessary to dwell upon this branch of the inquiry jiropo^ed to be 
made further than to remark that it is as various as it is corrupting aud ellicieiit. 
"We will refer to a few of the most flagrant cases of recent occurrence. 



432 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" Tlic success of that party ia Illinois wliicli wonld sustain a distinguished gentle- 
man, the former chairman of the conimit'tee on Territories of this hody, was jjartic- 
ularly fenred by the President ; and it is believed he through his office holders 
organized a party equo.1 to a corporal's guard of the Democracy in that State to 
oppose him. How many post-masters he removed, who would not be parties to 
that organization, will be shown by the proposed inquiries; and what amount of 
monev wns raised by official contribution, influenced by the President's example, 
and with his sanction, to carry that election we do not know; ruuiur says tens of 

thousands. 

" "We Imve seen how the future elections of New York are to be directed and 
controlled under the influence of the discipline administered to ofiice holders for 
recusancy. Let us here refer to a marked case, not only of direct interference wiih 
a popular election, but nullifying the settled policy of a State. 

" The State of Few York deemed it sound policy to separate the municipal from 
the general election, in the city of New York ; and to that end i)assed a law di- 
recting that the former should be held at least one month subsequent to the latter. 
This was done expressly in order that the choice of municipal officers might be made 
irrespective of the great party organizations, and uninfluenced by their machinery. 

" It was a wise and necessary policy, from which great advantages were hoped 
to result, and particularly that the voters might be freed from the action of the gen- 
eral and S*;ate officers ; from the influence of party excitement as to general or State 
policy, and from that iron rule of party discipline which required every man enlisted 
under the banner of Democracy or Piepublicanism, to vote the regnlar party ticket ; 
thus hoping and believing that the choice of the voters of all classes and conditions 
would be directed alone by the character of the candidates, and their fitness for the 
trusts to be reposed in them, and as a consequence that the city would be secured 
against the corruption and bribery to which it has been so long exposed. By this 
law, the State of New York declared her policy to be that the charter elections in 
New York ought not to be and should not be influenced and controlled by the 
general electiuns. 

'•Mr. Buchanan seeing, or fearing that this new and beneficial course of policy 
might distract and lessen the trammels of party, determined th;it the pcdicy of the 
State should not be effective, if he could th\Yart it through his official dependents. 
And, theref ire, at the very first election when a democrat, ilr. Tiemann, was pre- 
sented as the candidate of both parties for Mayor, and Mr. Wood as the candidate 
of the corrupt and corrupting office-holders of the city, and others his personal 
adherents, under the name of the Democratic party, he required his office liolders 
in the city of New York to vote for what he considered the regular Democratic 
candidate, and failing to do so, he dismissed the District Attorney of the United 
States from office. 

"It is believed to be susceptible of proof, that an order was issued from head 
quarters that the recruits on board the receiving ship Korth Carolina should be 
carried, as it was before stated they were carried, to the poll at "Williamsburg, to 
vote for the Lecompton Democratic candidate at the late election, in that Congres- 
sional District. 

" "Well knowing that this condition of party demoralization would lead to that 
which he believed was the Avorst form of government in the "World, an unmitigated 
and uncontrolled Democracy, such as that described by Madison in the 43d number 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 433 

of the Federalist. ' What bitter anguish would not the people of Athens li&vo often 
escaped, if their Government had contained so provident a safeguard against the 
tyranny of their own passions (he refers as the safeguard to the Senate of tlio 
United States). Popular liberty might then have escaped the indelible reproach of 
decreeing to the same citizens the hemlock on one day, and statues ou tlie next.' 

" In the Federalist by Mr. Madison, the Government of the United States is 
earnestly recommended to the people for adoption, because it was not a Democracy. 
Most certainly, a pure Democracy must be a Government controlled by ignorance and 
brutality. Influenced by these considerations, the great question was, how could 
this great evil of prostituting the Government patronage to party purposes be rem- 
edied? And this led to the inquiry, 'Has the President the power by the Constitu- 
tution of removal from oflice V In the examination of this question, reference was 
made to tlie Federalist, which has been called by a distinguished English writer 
' The Bible of Republicans.' 

"In No. 77 of that work, written by Hamilton, it is distinctly stated as one of 
the advantnges of the cooperation of tlie Senate in the business of appointments, 
that it would contribute to stability of the administration. The consent of that body 
would be necessary to displace, as well as to appoint. A change of the Chief Magis- 
trate, therefore, would not occasion so violent or so general a revolution in the 
offices of the Government, as might be expected if he were the sole disposer of 
offices. 

"This eminent authority against the power induced a thorough examination of 
the laws passed on the subject, and particularly the first act passed in 1789, and the 
course of practice under that act. He found that the whole number of removals 
from 1789 to 1829 did not exceed seventy -three. More than half of these were 
made by Mr. Jefterson. 

"Iq 1829, President Jackson introduced the practice of exercising this power, as 
Calhoun said, "to reward friends and punish enemies." His removals, according 
to Parton, were estimated at two thousand." 

During my examination of this subject, that celebrated philanthropist, 
Mr. Charles L. Brace, passed a night at my house where this subject was dis- 
cussed ; on his return to the city on the 2d December, 1858, he wrote to mc 
thus, " Your views on the appointing power of the President seem to mo very 
important and well-timed, and I am anxious that they should be laid before 
those who are leading in politics, or who write for the press " He then suggested 
that I should invite to dinner, on Friday of the next week, Messrs. Evarts, P. 
D. Field, Godkin, Dana, and others. This was done, and these gentlemen, with 
Mr. Brace, came after dinner, and the subject was discussed. My authorities were 
at hand. The opinion of all the gentlemen was, that the President had not the 
power to remove, and it was understood that we would endeavor to get a law 
passed restraining the exercise of that power by the President. I was rcquosted 
to write a pamphlet on the subject, whicli I did, which after being submitted to 
Mr. Evarts, was printed. (See Appendix C.) 

In January, 1859, I went to Washington to get a law passed. I first con- 
ferred with Mr. Seward, then representing New York in the Senate. Ho fully 
28 



434 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

agreed with me, and introduced nie to Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, as a 
proper person to introduce the bill. Mr. Wilson entered into the matter most 
heartily — had frequent conversations with Mr. Seward on the subject. 

I returned to New York, and at the request of Mr. Wilson, prepared and 
sent to him the following letter and form of a resolution : 

James A. Hamilton to Hex. Henry Wilson, U. S. Senator, Washington, D.C. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Feket P. O., February 12, 1859. 

"My Dear Sir: Inclosed with this note you will find the argument which I 
completed last night ; I cannot have it copied here, and therefore send it as it is. I 
hope you will not have too much difficulty in reading it. I feared if I sent it to 
Isew York to he copied, you might not get it in time for use. 

"There are two leading points which I have endeavored — and I believe with 
success— to establish : first, that the President alone has not the power to remove by 
the Constitution, and consequently Congress may repeal such laws as have been 
passed sustaining the exercise of the power. 

"The second point is, and it is one not raised before, that if the President alone 
has the power to remove, he has not the power by the Constitution or laws to 
appoint in order to fill up such vacancy, or to appoint and thus remove ; because, 
under the Constitution, he has power only to appoint in order to fill a vacancy 
which lias occurred otherwise than by his action. The last clause of Sec. 2, Art. 2 
is conclusive upon this point. 

" Tills point was not made in the decision of 1TS9, nor by Webster in his speech 
in 1835, nor was that clause referred to in either case. 

"The argument is that all oflScers of the United States other than those whose 
appointment is provided for in the Constitution must be nominated by the President, 
consented to by the Senate, and tlien appointed by the President. This is the 
general rule, the exceptions are 'inferior officers' whose appointment maybe given 
to the President alone hy Congress, and appointments to fill vacancies during the 

recess. 

" The whole subject of appointments is provided for by these clauses. There is 
no power by Congress to enlarge or abridge these provisions ; they are clear and 
explicit, and do not authorize appointments in order to remove during the recess, 
nor are appointments to fill a vacancy occasioned by a removal during the recess, 
and certainly not during the session. 

" I beg to call your earnest attention to this view of the subject, and congratulate 
you upon liaving this opportunity to call the Senate and the country to it. 
" I remain, with sincere respect and regard, 

" Your obedient servant." 

" Resolved, That a Committee of — be appointed to inquire into the extent 
of the patronage of the President of the United States, resulting from his exercise 
of the power of removal and appointment to office. And to that end to inquire 
and report the number of offices or places of trust or profit, under the control of the 
President, (exclusive of tlie regular officers of the Army and Navy), and including 
such as are under the control of the heads of Departments, subordinate and inferior 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 435 

offices, with the amount of salaries, fees, or other compensation payable to or received 
under or by virtue of such offices and places. 

" And further to inquire and report, whether if any, and in what ca<e« such 
power and patronage has been exerted, or attempted to be exerted, or exercised to 
influence the Legislation by Congress, or to direct or control the votes and tlio 
elections in the States and Territories. And farther to inquire into the extent of 
the power and patronage of the President of the United States, resulting from tlie 
expenditure of the public money by or through the heads of departments, subordinate 
and inferior officers of tlie Government of the United States, who are subject to the 
removal and appointment by the President, his Secretaries and the subordinate and 
inferior officers aforesaid, excluding the salaries and wages paid of officers of all 
kinds which are fixed by law, and including salaries, fees and wages, and other com- 
pensations made to contractors for furnishing supplies and transportation for the 
army and navy ; for furnishing engines, ordnance, ordnance stores, and munitions 
of war; for the purchase and sale of ships or vessels, for fitting out the same; for 
selling or purchasing land, and sites for civil and military purposes; for printing 
and publishing of all kinds. 

" And to inquire and report whether the said expenditures, and the power or 
patronage derived therefrom by the President, the heads of departments, by sub- 
ordinate and inferior officers or others are exerted, or attempted to be exerted, or 
directed in such a way as to influence or control the Legislation by Congress, or the 
votes or elections of the States or Territories, or any of them. 

" To exhume this corruption, to awaken the public mind to a just sense of the 
degraded station into which the administration of the country has fallen, is a painful 
but a necessary duty. 

" It has fallen to my lot to present this Resolution calling for a Committee of 
inquiry and reform. It will be the mission of the great Republican party to awaken 
the conscience of the nation by drawing up from their hidden nnd hideous haunts 
the. men and measures which for the la»t few years have prevailed, and wliich have 
given to the Congress of the United States her reputation of being, in the language 
of the gentleman from Georgia, 'The most corrupt body on the face of the earth.' 

" There was a time when we boasted that onr national assemblies, our Congress 
and onr Conventions, were the most enlightened, the most incorruptible, the most 
patriotic bodies of public men the world had ever seen. How have the mighty 
fallen ! Whence, from what mighty power of mischief, from what demon of misrule, 
has all this come ? "We answer imhesitatingly and confidently, from the exercise of 
the executive power, through the bestowal of office and the exercise of the power 
resulting from a vast expenditure of money, by giving jobs and contracts as the 
reward of congressional subserviency and party services. 

" It is well known, nay, it is with much eifrontery by some boasted of, as a 
democratic principle, that all the public offices are held by the President and other 
departments of power in the General and State and Municipal Governments as the 
reward of successful, skilful, and unscrupulous party services, and that periodically 
they must be thrown into the arena to be clutched by the gladiators who are most 
distinguished by such qualities as will secure the continued dominion of the party. 

"It is established by the contract of enlistment as a condition upon which 
offices bestowed can alone be held, that the officer, high or low, 1st, must con- 
tribute a portion of his official greed to party uses ; 2d, must vote for the j^arty 
candidate ; 3d, must work for such candidate ; 4th, must use his official influence 
to sustain such candidate ; but more and harder still, 5th, must, in liis views nnd 
feelings, sympathize with the National Administration, whatever its follies or vices 
may be. 



436 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" That this is the established martial law which governs the Presidential army of 
50,000 office-holders, regularly enlisted, and of twice as many volunteer Hessians 
hired for occasions at navy yard?, and tlirough jobs and contracts, we refer to the 
letter of lion. Gouverneur Kemble, the fate of Mr. Kirsan, postmaster, and Mr. * * * 
light-house keeper, recently drummed out for insubordination in not working and 
sympatliizing, although voting for the party candidate. 

" "We will refer to another case which proves that this inexorable rule is applied 
to officers of higher grades. Mr. Jolin Mclveon was District Attorney of the United 
States for the Southern District of New York, witliin the city of New York. Fer- 
nando Wood was nominated for Mayor by a portion of the Democratic party, 
although repudiated for his base frauds by another and perhaps the greater section 
of the party. Mr. McKeon, agreeing with Tammany Ilall, the headquarters of sound 
Democratic principles and practices, did not vote for or support Mr. "Wood. lie was 
dismissed from office by the President, 

" At this moment, such is the sure fruit of vice and falsehood, this same Wood, 
once a tribune of Democracy, sympathizes in defeat and impending political destruc- 
tion with a mwch better man and a far more distinguished public character." 

Mr. Wilson to James A. Hamilton. 

" WAsnixG-Toif, February 20, 1859. 

" Deak Sir : In reply to your note I have to say that I do not think it would 
"be of any service for you to come here at this session. It is so late that nothing 
will be done this session, but I shall make tlie proposition, and at the opening of tlie 
next session I shall try to present the whole case in the best manner possible. I 
shall be under the greatest obligations to you for your very valuable aid iu tlie mat- 
ter. At any time I sliall be glad to hear from you, and I think I shall call on you 
.and talk the subject over during the coming season. 

" Yours trulv, 

"n. Wilson." 

The threatened secession rendered any change for the present hopeless. 
Kn 1866, my efforts were renewed. Mr. Sumner introduced me to Senator Hen- 
derson as a proper person to bring the subject to the notice of Congress, as be 
:Lad attempted to introduce something of the same character into the Post 
'Office Appropriation Bill. He entered on the subject with great earnestness 
:and zeal, and secured the passage of " The Tenure of Civil Office Bill " on the 

day of March, 1867. The Bill I submitted to Mr. Henderson excepted 

the members of the Cabinet from its operation. 

Daniel Webster to James A. Hamilton, and other Lawyers. 

"Washington, January 27, 1851. 

•'• Gentlemen : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the ]6th of 
"this month, inviting me to attend a meeting proposed to be holden at Tarrytown, 
■on the 30th instant, by the people of Westchester County without any distinction of 
party, who approve the compromise measures of the last session of Congress. 

" My public duties do not allow me to accept this invitation ; but you need not 
• doubt that I cordially approve the objects and purposes fur which tlie people of 
"Westchester propose to assemble. 



REMINISCENCES OE JAMES A. HAMILTON. 437 



u ■ 



I hope the spirit of disunion may be considered as now, in gomo degree, 
checked ; but that it has existed both at the North and at the South, and does still 
exist to a dangerous extent, cannot, as it secras to me, be denied by any honest 
man. 

" In the South, tlie separation of the States is openly proposed, discussed, and 
recommended, absolutely or conditionally, in Legislative Halls and in Conventions 
called together by the authority of law. 

" In the North, the State Governments have not rnn into such excess, and the 
purpose of overturning the Government shows itself more clearly in resolutions 
agreed to in voluntary assemblies of individuals, denouncing the laws of the land, 
and declaring a fixed intent to disobey them. 

" I notice that in one of these meetings, hohlen lately in the very heart of New 
England, and said to have been very numerously attended, the members unanimous- 
ly resolved, ' That as God is our helper, we will not suffer any person charged with 
being a fugitive from labor to bo taken from among us, and to this resolve we 
pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.' 

" Tiiese persons do not seem to have been aware that the purpose thus avowed 
by them is distinctly treasonable. If any law of the land be resisted by force of 
arms, or force of numbers, with a declared intent to resist the application of that 
law, in all cases this is levying war against the Government Avithin the meaning of the 
Constitution, and is an act of treason, drawing after it all the consequences of that 
offence. This is the precise case in which convictions for treason took place in 
Pennsylvania during General Washington's administration, and not only does such a 
spirit as this manifest itself in heated and violent public assemblies, but it is also de- 
fended, encouraged, and commended by a considerable portion of the public press, 
and what is still worse, tlie pulpit has, in too many instances, uttered these tones of 
opposition to the laws instead of the voice of Christian meekness, repentance, and 
the fear of God. Indeed, occasions have happened in which men and women have 
engaged in a sort of rivalry or contest to see whether the laws of society, or the 
institutions of religion, and the authority of Divine Revelation could be treated with 
most contempt. 

" It is evident that if this spirit be not checked, it will endanger the Govern- 
ment; if it spread far and wide, it will overthrow the Government. 

" There are ample pledges, gentlemen, that with you and your fellow-citizens of 
Westchester no other feeling will be entertained than that of zealous attachment to 
the Union and the Constitution, and a determination to support both to the last ex- 
tremity. Among your Committee I see the son of a great and an illustrious man, 
equally distinguished in the revolutionary and the constitutional period of his 
country. Alexander Ilamilton was one of the twelve Commissioners who met 
at Annapolis, in September, 1786, and recommended to the country the establi.-h- 
ment of a Constitution of Government " adequate to the exigencies of the Union." 
Here was the cradle of that form of Government which has so long bound us 
all together, and made us so prosperous at home, and so much respected abroadi 
Where the blood of Alexander Hamilton fills the veins, or his example and patriotic 
services are remembered, the hmguago of separation, secession, and disunion will 
find no utterance, and purposes of violent resistance to the laws no aj.pri'bation or 

tolerance. , i i i i 

" Gentlemen, the mortal rtmains of another great man, venerated anu io>C(V 



438 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

through the whole course of a long life, repose in the county of Westchester ; of 
course, I mean John Jay. The public life of this illustrious man was almost entirely 
devoted to the preservation of the Union of the States, the establishment of the con- 
stitution, and the administration of the powers conferred under it. Ko man saw- 
more clearly or felt mere deeply the evils arising from the existence of States with 
entire and distinct sovereignties. ^sTo man appealed to his countrymen against such 
a state of things with more earnestness, eloquence, or power. lie saw the beginning 
of a s[)irit very much like that which exists now; he foretold its dangers and did as 
much as any man to rescue the public opinion from its pernicious grasp. 

"In 1785, he wrote to a friend, 'It is my first wish to see the United States 
assume and merit tlie character of one great nation whose territory is divided into 
different States merely for more convenient government.' In ITST he said, ' It has until 
lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion, tliat the prosperity of the people 
of America depended on their continuing firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and 
efforts of our best and wisest citizens have been constantly directed to that object. 
But politicians now appear who insist that this opinion is erroneous, and that instead 
of looking for safety and happiness in union, we ought to seek it in a division of the 
States into distinct confederacies or sovereignties.' This country and this people 
seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of 
Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, 
united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of un- 
social, jealous, and alien sovereignties. 

" They who promote the idea of substituting a number of distinct confederacies 
in the room of the plan uf the convention, seem clearly to foresee that the rejecticm 
of it wonld put the continuance of the Union in the utmost jeopardy ; that certainly 
would be the case, and I sincerely wish that it may be as clearly foreseen by every 
good citizen, that whenever the dissolution of the Union arrives, America will have 
reason to exclaim in the words of the poet, ' Farewell I a long farewell to all my 
greatness.' 

" Wlien I am speaking of the ardent attachment of John Jay to the Union of the 
American States, I cannot forbear, even at the risk of extending this answer beyond 
its proper limits, from introducing another extract from his admirable writings, as 
exhibiting remarkable sagacity and power of illustration. ' We have heard much,' 
said he, ' of the fleets of Britain, and if we are wise, the lime may come when the 
fleets of America may engage attention. Bnt if one national government had not 
so regulated the navigation of Britain as to make it a nursery for seamen — if one 
national government had not called forth all the national means and materials for 
forming fleets, their prow^ess and their thunder would never have been celebrated. 
Let England have its navigation and fleet— let Scotland have its navigation and fleet 
— let Wales have its navigation and fleet— let Ireland have its navigation and fleet — 
let those four of the constitnent parts of the British Empire be under four independ- 
ent governments, and it is easy to perceive how soon they would each dwindle into 
comparative insignificance.' 

" When John Jay filled the seat at the head of the Supreme Judicature, how 
would one appear who, being charged with crime, should stand up before his face, 
beaming equally witli intelligence and benignity, and insist that he had disobeyed 
the laws only from tlie impulse of his own individual conscience, that he had disre- 
garded plighted faith, violated the most important obligations, and contemned the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 139 

sanctity of oaths, only upon Lis reliance on the superiority of lii;^ own intelligence 
over that of the community, and the riylit of every individual to judge of conslitn- 
tions, laws, and compacts for himself. Citizens of Westchester ! Citizens of ti.e State 
of New York! the voice of your own illustrious dead cry to you from the ground. 
They who are in their graves beseech you, as you respect their names and memories, 
as you love libei-ty, as you value your own ]iappinesj=, as you regard the hopes of 
your children, to hold on with unflincliing firmness to the Constitution and to the 
Union of the States ; and as if with lips still living, they conjure you in tones of indig- 
nation to reject all such ideas as that disobedience to the laws is the path of 
patriotism, or treason to your country duty to God. 

" Gentlemen, I am sure tliat you and your friends will do your whole duty as in- 
telligent and patriotic citizens in upholding the institutions of your country. I 
purpose to do mine, and should not consent to act with any body who should be 
found to waver or hesitate on this important question. 

" Tlie President's message at the opening of the present Session of Congress ex- 
presses fully and plainly his own opinion, and the unanimous opinion of all those 
associates with him in the Executive Administration of the Government in regard 
to what are called the adjustment or compromise measures of the last Session. 
That opinion is, that those measures should be regarded in principle as a final settle- 
ment of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embrace, that though they 
were not free from imperfections, yet in their mutual dependence and connection 
they formed a system of compromise, the most conciliatory and best for the entire 
country that could be obtained from conflicting sectional interests and opinions; and 
that, therefore, they should be adhered to until time and experience should demon- 
strate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse. That 
opinion, so far as I know, remains entirely unchanged, and will be acted upon stead- 
ily and decisively. The peace of the country requires this, the security of the con- 
stitution requires it, consistency requires it, and every consideration of the public 
good demands it. If the administration cannot stand upon the principles of the mes- 
sage, it does not expect to stand at all. 

" For myself, I confess that if I were to witness the breaking up of the Union and 

the Constitution of the United States, I should bow myself to the earth in confusion 

efface, I should wish to hide myself ffom the observance of mankind unless I could 

stand up and declare truly before God and man, that by the utmost exertion <»f 

every faculty with which my Creator has endowed me, I had labored to avert the 

catastrophe. 

" I am, gentlemen, with entire regard and all good wishes, your obliged friend 

and fellow-citizen, 

"Daniel Webster." 
To Messrs. Jasies A. Hamilton, ' 

George B. Butler, ,> 

John B. IIaskix, > Committee. 

Albert Lockwood. 



CHAPTER XIT 



THE REBELLION. 

Preliminary Observations— Letter to tlie Hon. Jolm Cochrane — The contest for 
the Speakership in the noiise of Representatives in 18G0 — rThe Missouri Com- 
promise — Henry Clay and Samuel L. Southard — EfTect of Eebellion on State 
Governments — Compromises of the Constitution — Letter to Thomas Coteswood 
Pinckney — Notes on Nullification — Memorandum on Secession submitted to 
President Buchanan — Letters from J. M. Read and lion. John Cochrane — Letter 
to Senator Morgan — Call for a Mcetin<:c to preserve the Union — Letter to Presi- 
dent Buchanan — Effort to reinforce Major Anderson in Fuvt Snmter — English 
sympathy with Southern Rebellion explained. 

The following pages relate to the most interesting period of my life — the 
Eebellion. I was sternly opposed to slavery because I knew it to be a great 
crime and a great evil to the oppressor as well as the oppressed. I bad learned 
this from the writings of the wise and good men of all times. 

SocKATES. — " Slavery is a system of outrage and robbery." 

Plato. — " Slavery is a system of the most complete injustice." 

Locke. — "Every man has a property in bis own person ; this nobody has a right 

to but himself." 

Hamilton. — "Natural liberty is the gift of the beneficent Creator of the whole 

human race." 

Dr. Johnson. — " No man, by nature, is the property of another." 

Brissot. — "Slavery in all its forms, in all its degrees, is a violation of divine 

law, and a degradation of human nature." 

Pope Leo X. — "Not only does the Christian religion but nature cry out against 

the state of slavery." 

Franklin. — "The wise and good men throughout all time, and the Christian 

church throughout all the world, with an unimportant exception during a brief 

period in our own country, have denounced slavery as an atrocious debasement of 

human nature." 

I also learned, from a thorough examination of the Constitution and the 
history of its formation, that much was yielded to slaveholders in order to 
secure the adoption of the Constitution by the Southern States, and thus to 
secure the union of all the States, but without establishing slavery or doing 



rvEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. TIA:\IIT/rON. Ill 

more than recognizing the fact that " persons were held to service and labor in 
certain States by the laws thereof." And it was well understood, that slavery 
should not be interfered with directly by the Free States. I therefore did not 
permit myself to become an abolitionist. As soon, however, as the Slave States 
threw off their allegiance, freed from my constitutional obligations, I became 
a most determined abolitionist, and prepared by all means in my power to 
abolish slavery throughout the land. Ilow useful I was in this direction, or in 
any other, in sustaining the government, these pages will indicate. My whole 
time and all my faculties were directed to the work ; stimulated by the con- 
viction that should we abolish slavery and crush the rebellion, cost what it 
might, we should thus be made a wiser, better, and happier people, and a much 
more powerful nation, among other reasons, because " the Union of the 
States would be perpetuated." 

Ckll War and Slavery. Madison. — " I take no notice of an unhappy species of 
population abounding in some States, wlio during the calm of regular government 
are sunk below the level of men, but who in the tempestuous scenes of civil vio- 
lence may emerge into the human character, and give a superiority of strength to 
any party with which they m;iy associate themselves." 

This is the warning voice of wisdom and must ere long be realized in all its 
dreadful consequences. Civil violence is gradually, but with unfaltering steps, 
advancing into the States where that " unhappy species of population" abounds. 
Its first fruits are the flight, in great numbers, of men, women and children, to 
the camps of those whom they believe are sent to set the captive free. As soon 
as our victorious legions shall advance along the borders of York or James' 
River, or those parts of eastern Virginia in which the slaves most abound, 
when their masters are called to the field or are drawn from their homes, they 
will " emerge into the human character," and take part against their oppressors. 

James A. Hamilton to the Hex. John Cociikaxe, House of Kepresentativcs, 

Washington. 

January 27, 1860. 

" Sir : Without having the honor of your personal acquaintance, I address thi.s 
letter to you without seeking an opportunity which I might fmd in our common 
lineage. The momentous condition of our public atiairs justifies a departure on my 
part, and as I hope to induce you to believe on yours, from all ordinary modes of 
proceeding. 

"I entertain a conviction, the resnlt of much reflection, that your position as n 
representative of the great seat of the connnerco of our country, imposes upon von 
more than ordinary responsibility, while your talents and character give you an in- 
fluence which might, and I sincerely hope will, be used to reloaso the govornmont 
from its existing embarrassments, involving as it does vast comnierci.il iutorcsf.'», but, 
above all, the honor, and perhaps the safety, of tlie Connnonwealih. 

" The occasions are of very rare occurrence when men, and particularly public 



442 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

men, can, by rendering great services to their country at great personal sacrifices, 
secure to themselves immortal honor ; such I consider jour position at this mo- 
ment, and I write this letter in the ht)pe of inducing you fearlessly and promptly to 
seize it, let the cost be what it may. I pray you to allow the experience of a long 
life somewhat connected with public afii"airs to weigh with you, and to intimate as 
its teaching that such an occasion once lost will never again be presented to you. 

" We and all the world witness the painful spectacle that for nearly two months 
the representatives of tlie peojde of this great Republic have been, and now are un- 
able to clioose a member of their body to preside over their deliberations ; and that 
unless some (a very few of their number) can be found who have a higher sense of 
their obliterations to their country than to their party, this disorganization must con- 
tinue during their wdiole term of office. To cast off party obligations, under such 
circumstances, is not a violation of party principles, but it is an act of the highest 
public virtue. Whenever the House shall be organized, its rules and its proceedings 
must be (as they ought to be) dictated by the will of the majority. 

"I hope my ardent devotion to our country and my apprehension of a fearful 
crisis do not induce me to use language too strong. 

" If you, or any other gentleman of the Democratic party having as much influ- 
ence as yiiu have, would give notice that should the House not be organized after 
say ten more ballottings, you will be compelled, by your duty to your constituents, 
but above all by your devotion to tiie honor and welfare of your government and 
country, to propose the plurality rule, and should that be rejected, you will without 
delay so cast your vote as will most promptly and certainly elect a speaker; — 
this course, so honorable and patriotic, may subject you to the objurgation of 
party associates ; it may destroy your hopes of future election ; it may have much 
greater evils than those in store for you : but be assured that in following out the 
right, in making so signal a personal sacrifice, you will have the commendation of 
the good and the wise iti all parts of this country and of the world, and, above all, 
of your own conscience. 

" I pray you to ponder well on this subject, and to ask yourself what your pater- 
nal grandfiither, and my maternal grandfather, and their distinguished associates 
would do under the circumstances — would any one of them hesitate between their 
duty to their party, and their duty to their country? I answer without hesitation: 
they would not for one moment. Show your blood ; march up to the breach ; and 
die, if it may be in the service of your country, trusting to the intelligence and vir- 
tue of your countrymen for your justification and reward. I cannot entertain a 
doubt that this manly, independent, and patriotic course would be received in your 
city, the State, and country with a burst of applause. 

'• This letter, written without consultation or the knowledge of any man, expresses 
tlie dictates of my head and heart ; you will treat it as a private one or not, as you 
please, and in closing it, allow me to add that although I have particular views and 
feelings, 1 have no ititerest or ambition to be gratified by any event. My age 
forbids these, and my position outside of the vortex enables me perhaps to see more 
clearly, and to judge more calmly of its course and consequences than they can be 
who are carried along by it. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your well-wisher." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 4 i3 

THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE-EENRY CLxVY AND SAMUEL L 

SOUTHARD. 

Mr. Southard was a member of the Senate of the United States— young 
and recent; Mr. Clay an old, distinguished and influential member of the 
House of Representatives, pending the agitation of that question which excited 
the deepest interest and anxiety in all parts of the country. Mr. Southard 
prepared resolutions — the identical ones afterward introduced and passed. 
He showed them to his political friends, Mr. Clay among others. They were 
approved, and it was agreed that Mr. S. should on a certain day, as soon as the 
morning business was over, present them to the Senate. On the morning of 
that day, Mr. S. being prepared to move those resolutions, received a mes- 
sage from Mr. Clay, requesting a meeting on the resolution. Southard went 
there. Clay urged that it would be better that the resolution should be brought 
forward in the House of Representatives, and desired Mr. S. to give him the 
resolutions, saying he would with Mr. S.'s consent bring something of the same 
kind forward in the House. Mr. S. assented. Mr. C. took the resolutions, 
and without change in any respect whatever, offered the resolutions in the House. 
They were carried in both Houses. The question was settled — the agitation 
ceased. Mr. Clay has had from that time the whole merit of that measure. 
He never has given to Mr. Southard the credit of any part of it. Authority — ■ 
Ogden Hoffman, son-in-law to S., to whom Southard related these facts. 

Ilr. Clay and General Taylor. — After General Taylor's nomination, and 
before his acceptance, Mr. C. wrote to Taylor, urging him to decline the no- 
mination, and in his, Mr. Clay's, favor, putting it upon the ground of Taylor's 
unfitness for the performance of the duties of the office. 

General Taylor did not accede. Mr. Clay, in all his letters declining to be 
a candidate, never said a word in favor of Taylor ; he did not vote for him. 
Dr. Hawks authority. 

REBELLION— ITS EFFECTS UPON STATE GOVERNMENTS. 

When the people of a State rise in rebellion against the Government, and 
make their State governments vested with their sovei-eignty the instruments to 
overthrow by force the Government of the United States, they are guilty of High 
Treason. Traitors forfeit life and property, they have no rights of any kind. 
Blackstone says, " The natural justice of forfeiture and confiscation of property 
for treason is founded in this consideration, that he who has thus violated the 
fundamental principles of government, and broken his part of the original con- 
tract between King and people, hath abandoned his connections with society, 
and hath no longer any right to those advantages which before belonged tu hini 
purely as a member of the community." 

If this be true, how can men so circumstanced be vested with sovereign 
power? how can they possess, individually or collectively, the attributes of gov- 



44-i REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ernment, or bow can a State Government be aduiittec! to exist wben tbe 
people of the community, or a majority thereof, with those who were invested 
with tJie offices of tbe Grovernment, have abandoned all connections with 
society ? 

It is a strange paradox to say, notwithstanding all this, tbe State govern- 
ments must be admitted to exist. Such governments were founded to preserve 
tbe riixhts and advantages of tbe communities which founded them. 

It is said that if there are any Union men in tbe rebellious States, tbe 
Government continues in their persons. Tbe answer is, that the majority of 
every political community have power in their discretion to alter or aboli-b 
their State Governments, and that tbe minority are bound by tbe act of the 
majority. 

Under this fundamental rule, whether the State government shall be dis- 
solved by treason, or by tbe deliberate act of tbe majority, tbe Government 
ceases to exist ; it disappears. 

The experience of our own country teaches us that there can be no compro- 
mise with treason. 

When treason was attempted by nullification in South Carolina, the energy 
of General Jackson arrested it, and be would have banged its author, but 
Congress passed the Compromise Tariff Act which was received by Calhoun 
and his fellow-traitors as a triumph. 

From that time to this, disloyalty has been cherished until the present gene- 
ration was bred up in hatred of the Union. 

Restore the Constitution, with all the rights of the people under it. Issue 
a proclamation of amnesty, and in December next your Congress will receive 
ninety felons as members of tbe House of Representatives, and thirty members 
of tbe Senate, to begin from that moment the work of tbe destruction of the 
Government they are sworn to obey and support. 

THE COMPROMISES OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

Slavery, from its inherent feebleness from moral as well as political causes, 
has long been a bold aggressor upon tbe rights of the North, and with such 
complete success as to have become reckless of consequences. 

The action of Congress and tbe late decision of the Supreme Court in de- 
fiance of all maxims of prudence — tbe first in repealing, in utter disregard of 
good faith ; and tbe last in defiance of all maxims of prudence, in declaring 
extra -judicially tbe Missouri Compromise law unconstitutional — have manifested 
so clearly the purpose of tbe slave power — we mean the oligarchy of slave- 
holders — to govern the Union, not by force of numbers, but by combinations 
hostile to Republican government ; that the only division of parties henceforth 
and as long as tbe Union can exist, must be geographical and sectional, and in 
that spirit all party discussions will be conducted. Among others, each party 
will examine with keen, and probably intemperate feelings bow far the compro- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 445 

mises of the Constitution have Leon observed and respct-tcd, and to tliat end 
we propose to show that the oligarchy have vioLatcd and continue to viohitc one 
of the most important compromises of the Constitution — enjojiuf^ all the advan- 
tages that such compromises gave to them and not rendering the equivalent. 

The Constitution, Article 1st, Section 2d, CIau>-c ;jd : " Representation and 
direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included 
within this Union according to their respective numbers, which shall be deter- 
mined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to 
service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all 
other persons." These " other persons," it it is well known, are that property 
which the oligarchy have determined they will carry with them in all States 
and Territories over which the Constitution extends ; and the Supreme Court, 
in the Dred Scott case, has decided that they have a right to do so, and the 
slave power now have in the House of llcpresentativcs, it is believed, not less 
than thirty members, the representatives of three fifths of those other persons. 
To obtain this power, this property is considered and treated as persons, but they 
do not and have not, except during a short period, during the administration of 
Washington and the elder Adams, paid the direct taxes as the equivalent of the 
representation. 

The facts are these : By Act of July 9th, 179S, measures were taken j^rc- 
paratory to the laying of a direct tax, and on the 14tli of the same mouth a 
direct tax of two millions was laid and apportioned to the States. Upon slaves 
there was assessed fifty cents each. This act was very soon repealed. When 
the war of 1812 cut oif the receipts from imposts, and its expenses drove the 
Government to resort to loans, to double the imposts and establisli a system of 
internal and direct taxation which reached excise, household furniture, stamps, 
carriages, watches, licenses, and in short almost all kinds of tangible perdoual 
propertj^, as well as real estate, negroes icere excluded. 

Here was a case of direct taxation which violated tlie great rule on which 
Republican government is founded — representation and taxation shall be ctpial 
— and thus the slave power, when direct taxes were imposed, enjoyed the advan- 
tage of the slave representation, and did not bear its corresponding burden, 
and does not do so now ; and yet the demagogues have the audacity to allege 
that they pay all the taxes, whereas not being, to a very great extent, consumers 
of imported articles, they pay a very small proportion of the taxes. 

Charles Cotesworth Piuckney, son of Thomas Pinckney, and uejihow of the 
illustrious Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, in 1858, on board ship returning from 
Europe, in conversation with me on the character of John C. Calhoun (whom I 
denounced as untruthful and seditious, and who directed the course of South 
Carolina in 1832), declared that " the purpose of the South was, and now i.s to 
break up the Union; they took up the Tariff at that time as tlic ground of 
Nullification, because they believed it would not look well to go for ld>crl>t in 
helm If of slavery.'' ' 



440 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

This man was a prominent nullifier in 1832, and a most determined seces- 
sionist in 1861. The following letter was addressed to and received by him : 

James A. Hamilton to Thomas Cotesworth Pinckney. 

" New York, November 20, 1860. 

"Dear Snt : The names of our fatliers were associated, in former times of 
anxiety, of danger and of struggle, in the service of their country, and the labors of 
tliose whose names we bear, seventy years ago contributed in no small measure to 
form the Government under which we have grown to our present stature among the 
nations of the w^orld. United, we take the rank of a first-class power ; respected, 
feared, and deferred to by the rulers of Europe, of Asia, and of America. During 
these seventy years (my life-time and perhaps yours) our resources, physical and 
mental, have been consolidated, extended and developed ; cities that rival those of a 
thousand years have been raised up ; a marine second to none has Leen created, and 
a military organization, superior (although militia) in moral strength to the standing 
armies of the most military power in Europe, has been formed. Contrast this marvel- 
lous advancement in all that is deserving of consideration with the condition of the 
States of South America, of Central America, of Mexico. The normal condition of 
these is anarchy, civil and servile wars, despotism, and military misrule; in most of 
thein a continued state of revolution, by which the people have been degraded to 
such an extent that tlieir subjugation by a foreign power appears to be the only 
hope for their future welfare. Mexico having adopted a Constitution almost identi- 
cal with our own, race and religion have contributed very much to the<e strik- 
ingly different results ; but our Uiiion of States and ' a National Government,' still 
more that Union which ' constitutes us one people' is tlie palladium of our liberty, 
our only security against the woes to wliich our neighbors have been subjected. 

"The expectation of those men in your State who are endeavoring to plunge 
South Carolina into secession is, that other States will he drawn by her into the 
same disastrous condition ; and thus that a Southern Confederacy will be formed. 
What would be our future in that event? 

It has from long observation of the progress of society become a sort of axiom 
in politics 'that vicinity or nearness of situation constitutes nations natural ene- 



mies.' 



" In the event of disunion, what can exempt these States from the common lot 
of otlier bordering nations? Would they not then have tlie same inducements to 
make war upon eac!i other which have ' at different times deluged in blood all the 
nations in the world?' Indeed, if our Union should be destroyed by tiie subject 
which now so discordantly excites the people of one section of our country, would 
not the causes of our differences be much more frequent and intense than in ordi- 
nary cases ? 

" A patriot of the Eevolution who from his integrity, knowledge, and wisdom, 
enjoyed as large a share of public confidence as any other of those men whom you 
and I were taught to respect, treating of this division of the country, said, ' The 
North is generally the region of strength, and many local circumstances render it 
it probable that the most northern of the proposed confederacies wotild, at a period 
not very far distant, be unquestiomddy more formidable than any of the others. No 
sooner would this become evident, than the northern hive would excite the same 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. ^A^lILTON. 417 

ideas and sensations in the more sonthorn parts of America, wiiich it formerly did ia tlio 
soutliern parts of Europe ; nor does it appear to be a rash conjecture tliat its yoiuiR 
swarms might often be tempted to gather honey in tlie mure blooming fields and 
milder air of their luxurious and more delicate neiirhbors,' and that our disunion 
would place us exactly in that position in which we shall be formidable only to each 
other.' 

" Such are the lessons of wisdom drawfl" from experience. My respect for your 
character, my interest in the descendants ~{)f tiiose who were the cotemporaries of 
our illustrious sires, the love I bear to our common ccumtiy impel me to urge you 
and your associates to dwell upon these pictures with reference to the future. My 
devotion to the Constitution, which my father and he whose name you bear labored 
to frame, to be adopted, to sui>port and to expound, is the strongest feeling of my 
heart, interwoven with every thought and impulse of my life. 

" The rights of the South, of every other part of our country, and of every man 
in it, under the Constitution are ?acred to me. The right of each State to manage 
its local institutions as it may think proper, the rendition of persons held to labor 
and service in any one State by the laws thereof when cs(ai)ing into anotlur, I hold 
to be a duty which every citizen and every State is bound to observe ; and that all 
laws tending to impair the rights of any of our fellow-citizens in that resjiect are in 
spirit unconstitutional, and in fact unfriendly. It is undeniably the equal right of 
each State to determine whether it will have free or slave labor within its border!'. 
This is a part of my Republican creed, which I share with a vast majority of the 
people of the North. Any violations of thes^o rights by the Federal Government 
■would rouse our people to a determined resistance. In such a case, we should act 
with you, and by your side, in repelling any usurpation, any treasonable interference 
with the rights of the States in tlieir internal arrangements or constitutional guar- 
antees. In a case of foreign invasion or servile insurrection, you will find us by 
your side, imitating the bravest of your sons in the face of danger. 

"We well know the difficulties and the trials that are inseparable from your 
domestic institutions, and we hope you will learn to know and trust our feelings 
toward you and them. 

"Believe the assurance of your friend that nothing is intended or can be done 
by the Republican party against your safety or honor. The difficulties of enforcing 
the Fugitive Slave Law, so repugnant to the feelings of our people, is not as great 
as that which you find in executing the laws against the African slave trade. The 
former is generally carried out in the Northern States, while the latter is virtually 
abrogated in one at least of the Slave States. 

The violations of the Fugitive Slave Law do not affect Carolina a'^ much as they 
do the border States, or as this revival of the slave trade excites us. However, it is 
best not to refer to our differences at present. Let us all bear and forbear as Chris- 
tian men and good patriots. 

" I speak with entire confidence when I say the President elect has no wi.-h or 
intention to interfere with slavery in the States where it exii^ts. I say tlii-; in justice 
to myself and the part I have taken in the election, with full knowledge of the 
subject. 

"The false representations made to your peojile on this subject have been 
knowingly and designedly made, to induce tlie South to declare that tlicy woiutl 
secede in the event of an election of a ' Black PiCpublican IVesideut,' in order that 



44S REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

such declarations might be used here and elsewhere to affect the votes of electors 
by intimidation. This base game has been avowed. ' We have played this game 
well ; ' ' it is played out, and we are defv.'ate(l,' is the language used inmaldiig that 
avowal. 

"Your prejudices have thus been excited by politicians to promote their selfish 
ends ; and now tliat the game ' has been played out,' we ask you in the name of all 
that is dear to us both to pause ; to trust to the strong conservative feeling of the 
Forth, to our respect and affection for our southern brethren as a part of our glo- 
rious country, to our common memories of the past and hopes of the future; to 
avvait until some act which violates your rights shall be attempted, and thus to justify 
your course in the opinion of the world, and of your descendants. 

" I remain, with great respect, 

"Your obedient servant, &c." 

I received no reply to this letter other than two pamphlets written with the 
clear intent, by gross exaggeration, to " fire the Southern heart." 

THE EEBELLIOX. 

During the period of Nullification, 1832, I had most earnest conversations 
with General Jackson in regard to the purposes of the leading politicians of the 
South. He had no doubt that if they failed on this occasion, they would, when 
better prepared, carry out their plans for a separation. He was, under that 
conviction, most anxious to punish the great leader, Calhoun, in the most ex- 
emplary manner, in order that others might be deterred from imitating their 
treason, and as an example for those who should administer the Government 
when such an attempt should again be made. 

From my Note-book. — My conversations with President Jackson imprinted 
on my mind his conviction that the tariff law was only the pretence for nullifi- 
cation, and that slavery was at the bottom of the whole subject. That institu- 
tion had brought those who owned slaves and controlled the Southern States, 
to the conviction that they ought not to submit to the government of a ma- 
jority, who in the free States would give law to the United States; and that 
they would ultimately excite their slaves to insurrection. In confirmation of 
this, on a voyage from Europe in 1858, Charles Cotesworth Pinckncy was a fel- 
low-passenger. Talking about Calhoun's letters and conduct in 1832, he said : 
" My dear Sir, we do not mean to submit to the popular control of the North, 
We took up the tariff as a cause for secession, because we did not think it would 
look well to go for freedom in behalf of slavery. We intend to establish a great 
Southern Empire, with slavery as a basis — we only wait our opportunity." This 
irentleman was one of the leaders in the late rebellion. 

Mr. Webster, referring to an address of a convention of slaveholders at 
Nashville, said : " That address is a studied disunion argument. It proceeds 
upon the ground that there must be a separation of the States : First, because 
the North acts so injuriously to the South, that the South must secede ; and 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 449 

Secondly, even if it were not so, and a better sense of duty sliould return to tlio 
North, such is the diversity of interests that they caunot be kept tofctber."' 

Durh)g the election of 1856, between Buchanan and Fremont, it waa stated 
that Governor Wise, of Virginia, called together several of the Governors of the 
Southern States to determine, if Fremont should be elected, what their course 
should be. 

The following letter, addressed by J. M. Mason to Jefferson Davis, in 1856, 
is important to prove how earnest these traitors wore in their wicked purposes : 

" Selma, near Winchesteb, Va., September 30, 1856. 

"My Dear Sir: I have a letter from Wise, of the 27th, full of spirit. He says 
the governments of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Louisiana have already 
agreed to the rendezvous at Raleigh, and others will — this in your most most primte 
ear. He says further, that he had officially requested you to exchange with Vir- 
ginia, on fair terms of difference, percussion for flint muskets. I don't know the 
usage or power of the Department in such cases ; but if it can be done, eten by 
liberal construction, I hope you will accede. Was there not an appropriation at the 
last session for converting flint into percussion arms ? If so, would it not furnish 
good reason for extending such facilities to the States? Virginia probably has more 
arms than the other Southern States, and would divide in case of need. In a letter 
yesterday to a committee in Soutli Carolina, I gave it as my judgment, in the event 
of Fremont's election, the South should not pause, but proceed at once to 'imme- 
diate, absolute, and eternal separation.' So I am a candidate for the first halter, 

"Wise says his accounts from Philadelphia are cheering for Old Buck in Penn- 
sylvania. I hope they be not delusive. Vale et Salute. 

" Colonel Davis. J. M. Masox." 

It was' quite clear that having made their arrangements to secede, they de- 
termined, by having two candidates, to divide the vote of the Democratic party 
in the election of 1800, so as to render the election of Abraham Lincoln the 
candidate of the Republican party certain — they having by various devices 
" fired the Southern heart " to take measures to dissolve the Union. 

Mr. Calhoun, in a letter he wrote, dated , urged his correspondent 

to push the pretensions of slavery to the greatest length, so as to excite the 
Abolitionists to extreme denunciation, and thus to " fire the Southern heart," 
as he declared. In another letter, althoun^h he voted aijainst the IVilmot Pro- 
viso, he expressed regret that it did not pass ; because, if it had, it would have 
" fired the Southern heart." 

The great plan was to annex Texas, to obtain Cuba, and several of the 
Northern departments of Mexico. The first was accomplished in violation of 
the Constitution during the last days of Tyler's administration, by Calhoun, 
his Secretary of State. The case is this : Texas was an independent sovoroigu 
power, recognized as such by the United States Government. No arrangement 
can be made by the United States with another sovereignty, except by treaty. 
A treaty of annexation was negotiated; it was rejected by the Senate. Ihc 
29 



450 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

plan then devised was to induce Congress to pass, by a two-thirds vote, resolu- 
tions as the foundation of an agreement for the annexation of Texas which, 
when passed, should authorize an agreement of annexation. This was done; 
and thus a sovereign and independent nation became one of the States of the 
United States. When this was first reported in New York, I met a distin- 
guished gentleman from a Southern State on the street in New York. He 
asked : " Is there any thing new ? " I replied, " There is news which I much 
regret — Texas is annexed." He replied, "I am rejoiced; I am in favor of 
that great Southern Empire." 

The Ostend Manifesto in regard to Cuba, with the various raids upon the 
island from Southern ports, and the efforts made to purchase the island, were a 
part of this deep-laid plan. 

The attempt was made by John Slidell and other Southern members of Con- 
gress to pass an act authorizing an army to be raised to go to Mexico as 
Protectors, and thus to become possessors of the Northern provinces. Presi- 
dent Buchanan sent an agent to those provinces, Sonora, Tehuantepec, &c., to 
ascertain whether the people were willing to be annexed to the United States ; 
and to examine the quality of the mines of precious metals. This agent, whom 
I met in Washington, told me that he had been sent on that mission ; and found 
that the people were not only willing, but anxious to be annexed to the United 
States ; and further that the mines of silver were of immense value — that he 
so reported to President Buchanan, and he added emphatically, " If Buchanan 
had had as much backbone as his Cabinet, these provinces would have been 
annexed." 

Thus it was hoped that the great Southern Empire would have embraced 
the Southern States of the United States, Cuba, the Territory of New Mexico 
and the Northern departments of the Bepublic of Mexico. It certainly would 
have embraced a vast extent ; great fertility of soil, the richest products in the 
greatest abundance ; but not an empire of great power. 

My time was devoted to the examination of the Constitutional questions 
connected with slavery. As a result, in 1858, I wrote an essay which was pub- 
lished in a city paper entitled, " Property in Man." (See Appendix, D.) I 
also prepared a memorial to Congress, calling for the impeachment of Mr. 
Buchanan, founded upon facts established by the Covode Committee. I also 
prepared, in 1859, an essay entitled, " Examination of the Power of the Presi- 
dent to remove from office during the recess of the Senate." The circumstances 
under which this paper was written have already been narrated. 

PAPER ON THE TREATMENT OF SECESSION, SENT TO PRESIDENT 

BUCHANAN. 

The President, although compelled by his oath to protect and defend the 
Constitution, and by that Constitution to take care that the laws be faithfully 
executed, from which duty no power on earth can absolve him,, may nevertheless 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 451 

under the conviction that a firm and energetic conduct does not preclude tho 
exercise of a prudent and humane policy, endeavor to arrest if possible by 
moderate but firm measures the necessity of a recourse to force. 

As secession by South Carolina is now understood to be a determined 
purpose, it has become the imperative duty of the President without delay 
completely to garrison Fort Moultrie. The feeble condition in which that 
position has been left, contrary, as is believed, to the advice of Lieut.-General 
Scott, will invite attack and cost the lives of many gallant men on the part of 
its assailants, and probably of the garrison, amounting to about sixty, rank and 
file, whereas it should have at least five hundred. By so doing, the President 
would indicate a determination ultimately to reduce the refractory to a due 
subordination to the laws. The whiskey insurrection in 1793 was of such 
magnitude as to embrace several counties in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia. 
The insurgent country contained sixteen thousand men able to bear arms, and 
the computation was, they could bring seven thousand men into the field. 

Washington, after a proclamation proffering a pardon to all who should 
return to their duty, and sending Commissioners to treat with the insurgents 
called into the field an army of twelve thousand men which marched into the 
infected district, and by the display of such an imposing force, vindicated the 
laws and manifested the power of the Government. 

Another example for our President is found in the firm and patriotic course 
of President Jackson in 1832, when South Carolina attempted " Nullification 
and Secession." At that time, under the direction of General Scott, the 
military power of Fort Moultrie and other positions was adequately increased. 
On this occasion, the President proclaimed that " The dictates of a high duty 
oblige me solemnly to announce that you cannot suc-ceed. The laws of the 
United States must be executed. I have no discretionary power on the subject 
— my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution." 

These examples of two of the most illustrious predecessors of President 
Buchanan ought to command his respect. 

It is believed that South Carolina is induced to plunge into revolution under 
the delusive hope by free trade in imports to make Charleston a great mart of 
commerce, and at the same time by a high export duty upon cotton to obtain 
a revenue which will support a National Government ; and her agriculturalists are 
made to believe, by opening the African Slave trade, that they will extend tho 
production of that valuable product immeasurably. 

We can have no doubt that the President, as soon as he is informed that the 
net of Secession has been passed, will instruct the representatives at foreign 
courts that the people of South Carolina are in a state of rebellion, that by the 
constitution of the United States that State is prohibited from entering into 
" any engagement or compact with a foreign power," and that .should any for- 
eign government make any engagement or compact with this rebellious people, 
it would be considered a hostile measure. 



452 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Secession by South Caroliua must bring on -war, should she attack Fort 
Moultrie, or should the President endeavor to collect duties in the ports of that 
State or to enforce the laws of the United States which affect the people of that 
State. These laws are those which regulate commerce, establish the judiciary, 
and provide for the postal service. 

Should Congress repeal all laws relating to these subjects so far as they 
affect the people of South Carolina, there would be no laws to be executed, and, 
consequently, the President would be absolved so far as South Carolina was 
concerned, from his oath of office. The repeal of laws which South Carolina 
had abjured could not be considered as an act of hostility, whatever might be 
its consequences to her commerce. 

By the Collection Act of 1799, Beaufort, Charleston, and Georgetown are 
made collection districts, ports of entry and delivery. By the repeal of so much 
of that act as relates to these ports, any vessel having goods on board of foreign 
growth or manufacture subject to payment of duties, going into or attempting 
to go into these ports, would, with the goods, be subject to seizure and forfeiture 
under the 92d section of that act, and by tho same act all officers of the customs, 
within or without these districts, are required to seize such vessels. The ofH- 
cers of the revenue cutters are by law made officers of the customs to enforce 
the revenue laws. Thus all vessels bound to these ports or any others which 
are not ports of entry and delivery, will be liable to seizure. 

Again, under the laws of nations, any vessel found on the high seas, or in any 
•port of any country, without a clearance and other documentary evidence of her 
nationality received from an officer of a recognized government, one of the fam- 
ily of nations, is liable to seizure by a vessel of war of any nation that might 
.meet. her, and to condemnation in any court of admiralty in the world. 

The sovereign of Great Britain has just extended a mark of her royal favor 
'to Lord Brougham for his exertions in suppressing the slave trade, and so the 
.'Emperor of France has, by an autograph letter to a captain of an American ves- 
sel, signalized his detestation of that trade. Will either of these powers, or 
-will the Emperor of Bussia, who is emancipating his serfs, be very prompt in 
recognizing the independence of a people who have rebelled against their gov- 
ernment in order to extend slavery by the slave trade or otherwise ? The con- 
sequences of this course would be to leave South Carolina in a condition of 
•quasi independence, but of absolute isolation. Her exports might go through 
Savannah, from whence she might receive all articles she now imports, and 
-these would be the inevitable consequences of her own actions, and they would 
continue until a convention could be assembled to recognize her independence. 
This would be a peaceful solution of the difficulties and dangers resulting from 
.the rebellious course of that or any other state or section of our country. In 
all this, our considerations are confined to the present when they ought to be 
turned to the future, which is certain to produce almost incessant wars and per- 
haps much greater evils. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 453 

A distinguished member of the Chicago Convention addressed the following 
letter to James A. Hamilton. 

" May 31, 1S60. 

"Dear Sir: Your f^ivor of the 13th inst. was received very opportunely at 
Chicago, in the midst of the excitements of tlie convention there, and I availed of 
your permission by showing it freely to many persons there as evidence that every 
one in tlie state of New York did not consider Mr. Seward was to bo nominated 
without reference to any other consideration than a personal preference for him. 

" Tlie N'ew England delegations generally went to Chicago with a strong prefer- 
ence for Mr. Seward, and on the way there with delegates from other states, but 
mostly from New York, it seemed as if no other name than Mr. Seward's would be 
prominently before the convention. But at Chicago we first met delegates from 
Western States and from Pennsylvania, who told us distinctly that their delegations 
were neai-ly unanimous in the opinion that Mr. Seward, if nominated, could not get 
the votes of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois. 

" The prevailing sentiment there seemed to be that " success is a duty," and should 
outweigh personal preferences and prejudices, but while it was objected to Mr. 
Seward that certain States could not be carried with him as the nominee, there was 
no indication that those States could be carried by, or would unite in the convention 
on any other one name. It was believed that while at least one third of the convention 
was ill favor of Mr. Seward under all circumstances, the remaining two thirds were 
divided, some preferring Sewnrd but doubtfid in regard to the expediency of nomina- 
ting him, and many advocating the nomination of Bates, McLane, "Wade, Chase, 
Dayton, Cameron, and Lincoln, with little chance of concentrating upon any one 
of them. 

" Under these circumstances it seemed almost certain on Friday morning that 
Mr. Seward must eventually receive the nomination ; many of his friends asserted 
that he would be nominated on the second ballot by the change of votes to hira 
that on the first ballot would be given as complimentary votes for local candidates. 

"This was the condition of the convention on taking the first ballot; but the sec- 
ond ballot, while it added only four votes to Mr. Seward's number, indicated a de- 
cided preference among those opposed to hira in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and on the 
third ballot this indication was followed, to the astonishment of every one there, by 
a general concentration of all who were opposed, and of all who were doubtful in 
regard to Mr. Seward, in favor of Mr. Lincoln. I believe there was not one in the 
convention more astonished at this result than Mr. Greeley of the New York Tribune, 
and it seems to me absurd to ascribe this result to his efforts or to those of any other 
individual there. lie expressed his objection to Mr. Seward not more freely than 
he did his preference for Mr. Bates as a more available candidate, and there wore 
many others from the State of New York, who were equally free in e.vpro.«sing 
doubts in regard to the expediency of nominating Mr. Seward. It seemed to mo 
that many of those from New York, who considered tiiemselves the wnrniost friends 
and advocates of Mr. Seward, did more to damage him at Chicago than those who 
opposed him. Much was said at Chicago of the corrui)tion in tlie Now \ork Legis- 
lature last winter, and that Mr. Seward's election as President would transfer tlioso 
corrupting influences to Washington. In view of this, his friends damngod Imn by 
their overbearing manner in asserting his claims to the nomination, and by tno tree- 



454 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

dom with which they boasted, as it was said, of the votes they had secured by man- 
agement, and their offers of money to influence votes for him. 

" I went to Chicago entertaining very much the views expressed in your note to 
me in regard to Mr, Seward. I went to the Convention with the intention of voting 
for Mr. Seward, until there were distinct indications of a majority of the Convention 
uniting on some other candidate, and in the three ballots I gave my vote for Mr. 
Seward ; but I must say that the nomination of Mr. Lincoln seemed to me a fair and 
unbiassed expression of the preference of a large majority of the Convention, and 
every thing I have heard of him there and since, has satisfied me that he is in every 
way a suitable candidate, and that the Convention acted wisely in selecting him. 

" Yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to William M. Evarts, Esq. 

"DoBBS Feeey, June 19, 1860. 

N "My dear Sib: The report of the Covode Committee which I have read to- 
' day affords all that we wanted in July last, in order to prepare a petition for signa- 
ture, calling upon the House of Representatives to impeach the President, one or 
more of his secretaries, the commissioner of Customs, and the collector of Customs 
of Philadelphia ; and I feel that it is my duty and your duty, and the duty ©f every 
citizen to whom the honor of onr country is dear, to assist in doing this work. 

" I believe these men ought to be impeached, and that they will be at the next ses- 
sion, if a respectable number of people call for it. Whether this will be so or not, or 
h what will be the result in the Senate, must be left with those upon whom these 
\ duties are imposed by the constitution. I am ready to prepare such a petition and 
sign it, although I am diffident of my ability to do it properly, and therefore I invoke 
your assistance. [The petition was prepared and printed.] 

" The fact that the term of the President will expire on the 4th of March next, 
and that his accessories will retire at the same time, is no reason why they should 
' not be held up as the objects of punishment. A man is liable to impeachment when 
he has ceased to hold office." 

Luther. Bradisii to James A. Hamilton. 

"Julys, 1860. 

"My DEAR Sir: I have just finished the reading of your admirable letter* on 
'the Doctrine of the Constitution of the United States concerning Slavery,' and can- 
not resist the strong impulse of a first impression to make you my cordial acknow- 
ledgments, as a citizen of the United States, for this patriotic and much-needed 
labor of yours, so ably, and in all respects so admirably performed. 

" Such have been the gross errors with wliich, for some time past, particularly it 
has suited the new views of interested parties and designing men to invest this 
subject, that some such clear and forcible exposition of it as yours was much 
needed. These errors have appeared in various forms, from the gratuitous dicta of 
assumed authority down to the ranting declarations of the ultraists of the day. All 
these errors have rested upon the one assumed but false basis, that the Constitu- 
tion of the United States recognizes the principle of ' Property in Man,' and author- 



* " Property in Man." See Appendix D. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 455 

izes slavery. You have well exposed the fallacy of these error?, and have clearly 
shown, not only what the Constitution does provide in this regard, hut what its 
wise and patriotic framers intended it should provide." 

John M. Bead, of Philadelphia, Pa., to James A. Hamilton. 

"July 6, 18G0. 
" Dear Sir : I read this morning in the New Yorlc Times, with great pleasure 
and profit, your excellent letter upon the action of the Constitution of the United 
States upon the subject of slavery. The argument is unanswerable, and I have never 
seen it stated in so logical, so convincing, so temperate, and so brief a form. 

" Truly your obedient servant." 

Preston King, Esq., to James A. Hamilton 

" Washington, D. 0., August 14, 1860. 

" Dear Sir : I thank you for the article in the Times (Property in Man) ; it is 
clear, logical, and conclusive. The positions of Chief Justice Taney fall dead be- 
fore it. 

" I am very glad, too, to find you employing a leisure hour or two in this way, at 
a time when such ideas nre required to meet the sophistry by which the .-^lave 
propagandists attempt to sustain their new and absurd theories. The attention of 
the public mind, directed as it is now to this subject, will never rest till the truth is 
reached, and reestablished more firmly than heretofore. 

" Mr. Calhoun conceived the idea of liberty founded on and sustained by slavery. 

"Respectfully." 

Hon, John Cochrane to James A. Hamilton, 
"House of Representatives, Wasuington, December 15, 1860. 
" Mt dear Sir : Your favor of 12th instant is received. I have not, because of 
great draughts upon my time, been able to answer you before. I am truly obliged 
to you for your paper. It is terse, simple, and, I think, conclusive upon the points 
of which it treats (secession is State suicide). I may, upon exigency, find great use 
in its argument. Tiie country begins to sway fearfully in the storm that is upon us. 
Party sliould be forgotten now, let it again revive when it may, I cannot write 
you of any definite prospect. Indeed there is none. A thousand schemes give way 
in a day to a thousand others. Yet all have their use in mellowing and pri'i-aring 
the public mind for the adoption of the measure of relief adapted to tlie emcrgi-ncy, 
when it shall be providentially offered. I myself perceive no probability of arrest- 
ing tlie outward tendency of the Gulf States. I rely greatly, however, upon tlie 
restoring powers and disposition of the tobacco-growing States. It is ui)on tlieir 
prudential conservatism, after all, that wo must rely for the roas<enibliiig of our 
dismembered parts. Kor will we, as I think, be disappointed. l?ut in the moan 
time much can and should bo done in the North through meetings (chiolly of Re- 
publicans), to support the conservatism of these Border Slave StMtes. Opinion tl.io- 
tuateshere exceedingly, but the steady tendency is toward tl.e inevitable approach 

of dissolution. ,. 

" I am, very truly yours, A:o. 



456 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

James A. Hamilton to His Excellency E. D, Morgan, Governor, &c., Albany. 

" DoBBS Feeey p. 0., December 17, 1860. 

" Dear Sir : Amid the perils of our country, it becomes every one to express his 
views in regard to such measures as may be considered proper and useful. I there- 
fore make no apology f jr addressing this letter to you. 

•' Your position is a most commanding one, and your message to the Legislature 
at its next session may be most potential as to the Border Slave States, and useful to 
the Conservatives of the Cotton States. South Carolina is given up to her idols. A 
gentleman of the South of great influence, referring to tlie necessity for a strong 
Northern expression of opinion in favor of the repeal of the Personal Liberty Bills, 
says, ' Such declarations proceeding from a voice so potential as that of the chiei 
magistrate of New York, would strengthen the hands of the Union men through- 
out the South, and would, I think, go far to retain the border slave-holding States in 
their loyalty to the Gt)vernmi.nt.' 

" It is admitted that the Cotton States are not injured by the Bills ; but it is quite 
certain that these, and the election of Mr. Lincoln, are mere pretexts for carrying 
out the treasonable purposes of the leaders in South Cai-olina and elsewhere. I be- 
lieve these traitors broke up the Democratic party in order that the success of the 
Eepublican might be assured, and then by misrepresenting our purposes in regard 
to slavery, to blind and madden their people, and thus plunge them into immediate 
revolution. 

" The Personal Liberty Bills are denounced by all the wise and conservative men 
of our party with whom I converse (and they are not a few) as in spirit and pur- 
pose of such a character as to stimulate the people to resist the constitutional pro- 
vision for the return of fugitive slaves ; and at the same time they are so drawn as 
not to be judicially considered as unconstitutional. They certainly manifest a hostile 
temper which ought not to be indulged by some members toward others of the 
same family; and consequently all who are truly alive to their duty to the con- 
stitution, and loyal to the Union, but particularly such as are governed by those 
princi[)les, inculcated by that gnicious Providence which so signally disjdays its 
goodness to our country, are bound to unite when great earthly interests are at 
stake, in the performance of their wh(de duty, which is most certainly in this case 
to induce the repeal of this pernicious legislation. Allow me here to remark that the 
great Republican partj', consolidated as it now is, and you as its leader, may well in 
its hour of triumph, magnanimously come up to this work of sacrifice, superior to all 
personal and party considerations. I take this opportunity to say in all sincerity, 
if I did not consider you alive to such high impulses, I should not address this letter 
to you. 

" After profound reflection, I would suggest that in your message to the next 
Legi-lature yon express the opinion that all such enactments are unwise and im- 
proper in view of our Constitutional duties; and that you consider it your duty ear- 
nestly to recommend the Legislature to repeal without delay the act of this State 
passed on the . 

" As the State of New York has at all times been truly loyal to all her federal 
duties and to the great principles of liherty, she may therefore, without presumption, 
raise her voice in behalf of peace and conservatism, and lead off in doing justice to 
herself and to others. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 457 

"I do not intend, in what I am now about to write, to mingle with the lii;'li and 
patriotic motives which will govern you on tliis occasion any of an inferior char- 
acter; and yet in deliberating much on what I have suggested, it lias occurred to mo 
that it rarely falls to the lot of public men to hold their destinies in their own liands 
and even when it is so far known that such is their condition, to appreciate it, and 
thus lose the opportunity to associate their names imperishably willi the destiny and 
honors of their country. 

" If I can be usefid on this occasion, I will cheerfully go to Albany in order to 
serve you. 

" With sincere regard and respect, I have the honor to be, 

" Your friend and humble servant." 

CALL FOR A MEETING TO PRESERVE THE UNION. 

" The subscribers, influenced by their painful conviction that the present condition 
of our common country is one of imminent peril, a conviction forced u|)on tliem by 
the feet that several of the States of the South have, with the sanction of the Legis- 
latures, called a convention of delegates to assemble in Nashville, Tennessee, in June 
next, to deliberate upon the measures to be adopted to dissolve this L'nion,— a course 
of legislation by Congress in the Territories upon the happening of any one or 
more of various contingencies, to wit : Upon the admission of tlie State of Cali- 
fornia into the Union; upon the abolition of slavery, or the slave trade in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia; upon the adoption by Congress of the "Wilmot Proviso: by the 
fact that in other sections of the country at large public meetings held by individ- 
uals responsible by their condition and acquirements, resolutions are deliberately 
adopted denouncing the constitution of the United States, because it recognizes the 
existence of slavery in a portion of the Union, and calling upon their Legislatures 
and people to dissolve the Union ; from the fact that the customary and necessary 
legislative business is arrested by this one exciting topic, and by tlie fact that the best, 
the foremost, the most experienced statesmen of the country express, in their places 
in the Senate and House of Representatives, the most serious apprehensions tliat the 
Union will be dissolved ; while others do not hesitate under the like responsibilities 
to declare that is no longer possible, consistently witli tlie integrity of the slave- 
holding States, that they should remain united to the free States; we l)elieve the 
time has arrived when the voice of the people of this city and State and of the 
whole nation should be heard. "We therefore invite onr fellow-citizens of tliis me- 
tropolis without respect to party divisions, uninfluenced by party oI)ligations, to meet 
in council in order to express dvivotion to the Union, and to devise sucli measures 
as may be necessary to enable the whole nation to deliberate ui»on tlio vital 
questions which so deeply agitate tlie whole counti'v; but, above all, to express 
what we believe to be the deliberate purpose of the People, North, South, East, and 
"West, to preserve this Union ; for we venture to assume that the dearest interests 
andbrightesthopesof the masses of mankind depend upon the union of tlicso States 
and the glorious system of self-government under whirh wo now live so liappily, 
and have prospered so surpassingly. 

"We believe that to dissolve this Union involves the greatest injury, not only to 
the people, but to the liunian race, and, as we verily believe, it would be the greatest 
crime that any nation has yet committed. 

"In this great, this sacred work, we do not desire tlio cooperation I'f men who 



458 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

have personal or party ends to accomplish, whose patriotism centres in themselves, 
their party, their county, or their State, but we do desire and expect the assistance 
of the wise, tlie good, and the patriotic of all parties, classes, and occupations. 
We, in a word, ask tlie aid of tlie people of the Empire city to originate such meas- 
ures as will enable the people of the Empire State to meet the people of the other 
States in convention in the city of Washington at some convenient day, not only to 
express their determination that the Union shall be preserved, but to devise such a 
course of measures on the existing subjects to wliich we have referred, as in a 
spirit of forbearance, of justice, of patriotism will heal our wounds, and reunite this 
people as they once were, as members of one great family. And we do not hesitate 
to declare that the people influenced by such a spirit, by these or some other means, 
can well settle all exciting questions to the satisfaction of all. Or should it be found 
that these difficulties are too mighty f jr their grasp, that they will manifest such a 
determination to perpetuate the Union, that the Government of the country will be 
encouraged and sustained in putting forth all its energies to that end. 

'•James A. Hamilton." 

James A. Hamilton to President James Buchanan. 

"December 24, 1860. 

" Sir : Under a sense of duty I address this letter and submit the inclosed paper 
to you, in oider to call your deliberate attention to a course of measures which will 
relieve you from a part of your most painful responsibilities, and may bring about 
a pacific solution of our fearful difficulties. 

" Tlie more I turn this subject in my mind, the better satisfied I am that 
to suspend or repeal the laws referred to would not only relieve the Executive from 
the duty of enforcing the laws, but that it would so immediately and seriously affect 
the material interests of the people of South Carolina, as to induce them to pause 
and weigh well the consequences of the unwise course they have entered upon. 

" The people of Georgia, of Alabama, of Louisiana and Mississippi would imme- 
diately see and feel that the same course taken with them would lead to the most disas- 
trous consequences. The last two States could not get one pound of cotton or sugar 
to a market, as they have, I believe, no other outlet except by the mouths of the great 
river, or at great expense sending these bulky articles to the North and East by 
railroad. All this loss would result alone from the attitude they would assume in 
case of secession. There would be no relief by war or any other aggressive meas- 
ure toward the United States. No foreign power would interfere in such a case. 

"Tiie President will, of course, either by proclamation or through his Ministers, 
give notice to the world that the people of South Carolina are in a condition of 
rebellion, and particularly that the ports referred to are no longer ports of entry or 
delivery. 

" My duty to the President, to my country, and to the truth compels me to in- 
form you tliat very many intelligent and discreet men of all parties in this State, 
condemn the inaction of the Secretary of War in relation to the forts in Chnrleston 
harbor. They declare that should they be surrendered without a struggle, or fall 
in consequence of the absence of an efficient force, there can be no hope of conces- 
sion or compromise at the North until these forts are retaken or restored. It is 
generally believed that an imposing force thrown into these garrisons two months 
ago, would have prevented bloodshed, and have secured those works. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 459 

"It will be said, and no doubt with trutli, that an attempt, at tliis time, to in- 
crease those garrisons would induce a collision. I beg to suggest a remedy. 

"If the laws should not be repealed, as I have suggested, and as yon liave de- 
cided that the President is bound to collect the revenues at the port of Charleston 
you must, to effectively do this, send there a corps of officers— a collector, naval 
officer, inspectors, appraisers, weighers, gangers, &c., «tc. (All these persons are indis- 
pensable.) They, with their desks and books, and the space necessary to examine 
goods, would require a much larger space than a revenue cutter or any ordinary vessel 
could provide. It would therefore become necessary to employ a steam vessel of 
war to be stationed near Fort Moultrie. Should the commanding officer of such 
vessel be instructed, upon the requisition of the commanding oflBcer of Fort Moul- 
trie, to assist him, such assistance would, I am informed, from the nature of the 
approaches to the fort, be effectual, and thus, in the performauce of an indispensable 
duty, without the danger of inviting attack, secure that place beyond all peradven- 
ture. As to the other forts, Sumter and Pinckney, as their munitions of war cer- 
tainly belong to the United States, it would be not only discreet, but necessary to 
remove or destroy them that they might not fall into the hands of an enemy and be 
turned against the ships or fort. 

" I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, &c." 

The following suggestions were enclosed in the above letter : 

SECESSION— ITS TREATMENT— A PEACEFUL SOLUTION. 

" The right of secession cannot be proved to be constitutional. The Constitution 
clearly intends to repress such action by a State, when it declares, ' No State shall, 
without the consent of Congress, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace — enter 
into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power.' These 
restrictions upon the sovereignty of the States could have had no other olject. It 
must therefore be exercised under that higher law — the right of revolution — which 
is war against the oppressor. 

" The people of the United States having ordained and establislied the Constitu- 
tion for themselves and their ' posterity,' there is no power short of that which 
established it capable of destroying it ; consequently, the people of any State who 
may attempt to secede, must continue in rebellion until, by war, they have con- 
quered their independence, or, by a convention, it is accorded to them. 

" The President is bound by the Constitution ' to take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed,' and by his oath ' to preserve and defend the Constitution.' There 
is no power under heaven that can absolve the President from these obligations, 

" When South Carolina shall, by her Convention, declare that her people are no 
longer subjected to the Constitution and laws of the United States, they will bo in 
the condition of rebellion, 

" The laws which affect the people of South Carolina are those particularly 
"which regulate commerce, establish the judiciary and the mail service. 

" Should Congress suspend such parts of the law relating to these subjects so far 
as they affect the people of South Carolina, the President would be absidvcd, ns far 
as the people of that State are concerned, from this part of his dutv. 

"The repeal or suspension of law-s which South Carolina aljurcs, -anr .-; bo con- 
sidered as an act of hostility. It is the contrary, when done to avoid coUisioo 



4G0 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

• 

between the Executive power of the United States and the people of South Caro- 
lina, 

"By the 18th section of the Collection Law of March, 1799, Beaufort, Charles- 
ton, and Georgetown are made ports of entry and delivery. By the repeal or sus- 
pension of that clause, the President would be absolved from the necessity of col- 
lecting the duties, a proceeding which would inevitably produce a collision. The 
legal effect of this course would be, that every vessel which should thereafter enter, 
or attempt to enter, these ports with with dutiable goods, would be subjected to 
seizure jind forfeiture. 

" Under the laws, all officers of the Customs are required to seize such vessels. 
The officers of the revenue cutters are made officers of the customs for that pur- 
pose, and thus all vessels bound to those ports as to any others which are not ports 
of entry and delivery would be seized. 

"The effect of such liability Avould be tliat clearances would be refused in the 
ports of foreign powers to vessels bound for these ports. Another consequence of 
such repeal would be, that under the law of nations any vessel found on the high 
seas or iu any port of any country without a passport, sea letter, and clearance by 
the proper officer of a recognized government — one of the family of nations — is 
liable to seizure by a vessel of war of any nation that might meet her, and to con- 
demnation in any Court of Admiralty in the world. 

Such a course would leave South Carolina in a condition of quasi independence, 
but of absolute isolation. Her exports might be taken to Savannah, and from thence 
she miglit receive all articles she now imports, each burdened with the lieavy 
expenses of land transportation, and the latter to duties paid to the United States. 
These would be the necessary consequences of her own action, and they would con- 
tinue until a convention could be assembled to recognize her independence. It would 
be a pacific solution of the great difficulties and dangers to result from the course 
South Carolina has determined to take. 

This course would, by giving great commercial advantages to Savannah, tend to 
induce Georgia to defer secession. It might also, by showing Louisiana and Ala- 
bama the injuries which would result from a like course in regard to their re-pective 
ports of New Orleans and Mobile, induce these States to hesitate. It would cer- 
tainly strengthen the hands of the Conservative portions of those States. 

" James A. Hamilton." 

EFFORT TO REINFORCE MA-JOR ANDERSON. 
After the ordinance of secession was passed by South Carolina, on the 20th 
December, 1860, I was convinced that by force alone could the Union be pre- 
served ; and recollecting the advantages we had in 1832 when nullification 
was attempted by the same State, by having possession of the forts in the harbor 
of Charleston, I formed a plan on the 28th December by which Fort Moultrie 
could be provisioned and reinforced (the news of Major Anderson's having 
evacuated Fort Moultrie and taken possession of Sumter had not then been re- 
ceived), which was to charter a steamer to go to Charleston, taking on board of 
her three or four hundred men and provisions for six months. I immediately 
addressed the following letter to Major-General C. W. Sandford, commanding 
the militia of New York : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. IGl 

" (Private.) Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., December 28, 18G0. 

" Dear General : I write to you in the strictest confidence, because what I am 
about to propose miglit be defeated by premature disclosure. 

"The President having exposed a handful of brave men now in Fort Moultrie to 
slaughter, and the flag of our country to dis^grace, there can be no violation of law 
or duty of any kind, should citizens volunteer to go to Charleston liarbor in a 
steamer, chartered for the purpose, in order to reinforce Major Anderson. Such a 
course taken by a few hundred brave men would rescue the garrison and save the 
fort; and tliis having been done without any participation on the part of the (Jov- 
ernment, could not be considered by South Caroliua as an act otlcnsive to her which 
would invite, much less justify, an assault. Think of this; and if you approve, turn 
in your mind whether so many men could be induced to volunteer ? We would 
have no ditliculty in getting money to charter a steamer, and to put on board of her 
a store of provisions. Absolute secrecy must be observed. Let ine know where I 
can find you. I will be in the city to-morrow (Saturday). 

" Yours, &c., 

"James A. ITamiltox. 
"Major-General Saxdfoed, New York." 

The next day, Saturday the 29th, I went to New York, found the General 
at his office, talked the project all over with him. He fully approved what I 
proposed, and engaged to give me four hundred men, as good artillerists as could 
be wished. Having that assurance, I went to Wall street to make my arrange- 
ments ; saw Moses H. Grinnell, who said at once, " Go on — you shall have as 
much money as you want." I told him I would contribute one third, he one 
third, and Mr. J. E. Williams another third; that it would not do to let any 
others into the secret. He then told me to send for a particular agent to char- 
ter a steamer, purchase the provisions, &c. 

I went to my sou's office in Wall street to send for the broker and prepare 
written directions. While so engaged, General Sandford came to see me with 
the following letter in band : 



"O 



" (Private.) New Y'ork, December 29, 1860. 

"Mt Dear Sir : There would be no difficulty about the men, if the arrnngc- 
ment could be made under the sanction of General Scott. A contklential person 
conld be sent on to see him ; and with his approval the scheme would be perfectly 
le»al, and acceptable, no doubt, to the officer in command. 

" I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, &c., 

'• Ciurles ^V. Sandforp. 
* James A. IIamiltox, Esq." 

I urged that such a consent was wholly unnecessary ; when the work wa.« 
done, General Scott would hear of it and be rejoiced that it was done. I en- 
gaged to take the whole responsibility. All this was in vain, and I was conse- 
quently under the necessity of writing to General Scott the following letter : 



402 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" (Private.) Dobbs Ferey P. O., December 29, 1860. 

" Dear General : It is proposed to reinforce Major Anderson by volunteers, to 
be sent from the city of New York by a steamer to be cbartered for that purpose — 
the funds to be raised by private subscription. General Sandford promises to pro- 
vide as many good men and true as may be required ; say from one to four hun- 
dred. He, however, suggests that this enterprise should receive your sanction, so 
far at least as by your giving me a letter of introduction to Major Anderson, inti- 
mating to hira that those who accompany me will be his guests, and, of course, sub- 
ject to his command. If it is proper that you should countenance the enterprise, do 
me the favor to send me such a letter addressed to the Major as you please; and 
also to inform me of the number of men required, and of the kind and quantity of 
provisions to be taken with us. As I am the originator of this project, of course I 
intend to be one of the volunteers. 

" With my best wishes for your continued health and usefulness to our beloved 
country, I remain, 

"Your friend and servant, 

"James A. Hamilton. 
"To Lieutenaut-Gcneral Scott, Washington." 

On the 2d January, 1861, I received in reply the following letter, dated 
"Washington, January 1st, 1861 : 

" Washingtox, January 1, 1861. 

" Sir : Lieuten ant-General Scott desires me to acknowledge your letter of th.e 
29th ult., and to inform you that he has read it to the President of the United States. 
Both appreciated the patriotic spirit; but they coincided in the opinion that the im- 
mediate military needs of the country require no appeal to militia or volunteers in 
aid of the regular force. 

" I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Geo. W. Lay, Lieut.-Col., A. D. C. 
"James A. Hamilton, Esq." 

I was deeply disappointed in being thus deprived of an opportunity, in a 
noteworthy manner of rendering an essential service to my country ; and of 
connecting my name creditably with this the greatest chapter in the history of 
our country. 

With such an accession of force I believed Major Anderson would not 
have permitted the fort to be beleaguered by his enemy, as it was ; and that he 
would thus have commanded the port and city of Charleston. 

General Scott, some time afterward, in conversation with me on this sub- 
ject expressed his deep regret tliat the President (Buchanan) should have 
inhibited the enterprise ; because he believed if the Secessionists bad been de- 
feated in their attack upon Sumter, the rebellion would not have been carried 
further. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 4G3 

ENGLISH SYMPATHY WITH SOUTHERN REBELLION EXPLAINED. 

Alexis de Tooqdeville's Opinion of the EsGusn Mi.nd. 

The opinions of this most impartial and acute observer of men and govern- 
ments have at all times commanded attention and respect in this country and 
Great Britain. 

In a letter to Mme. Grote, written in 1857, speaking of the nature of the 
English mind, he says : " It consists in a downright perception somewhat nar- 
row, but distinct, which enables you to see thoroughly what you have in hand, 
but not to see several things at once. This is probably the caxi^c of a perti- 
nacity of the English mind in politics, which has always surprised me. In the 
eyes of the English, that cause which is most useful to England is all the cause 
of justice; the men or the governments which serve the interests of Enf^land 
have all sorts of good qualities ; he who hurts these interests, all sorts of defects, 
so that it would seem that the criterion of what is riglit, or noble, or just, is to 
be found in the degree of favor or opposition to English interests." 

How manifestly just and true is this appreciation of the English mind, as 
proved by the sympathy of the government or the people with the assumed 
Southern Confederacy. 

English interests, promoted by cotton and free trade, have made it " right, 
and just, and noble " to rise in rebellion without cause against a most beneficent 
Government, to erect a government founded on human bondage. En<Tlish in- 
terests have made it right, noble, and just to wish to sustain a government which 
forbade to one half of its people education and the rights of property ; forbade by 
its laws the marriage rites ; refused to one half of its people the right to be wit- 
nesses against their oppressors, thus sheltering from punislunent crimes at which 
humanity shudders ; all these things are made the criterion of what is " ri"lit, 
and noble, and just," if they are supposed to be in favor of English interests ; 
and therefore in this great contest which the North has undertaken, to sustain 
human rights and the liberty of mankind, Great Britain's interests are with the 
former. 

All Be Tocqueville's sympathies were in favor of the English people; he 
has enjoyed the friendship and hospitality in no measured degree of the Lans- 
downe and Holland houses for many years of his life ; he has enjoyed the society 
and confidence of the best people in London ; his constant companion, counsel- 
lor, and friend, who became his wife, was an Englishwoman, worthy in all respects 
of the afi'ection of this wise and good man and this unimpeachable witness. God 
save the bulwark of the Christian lleligion. 

This paper was prepared in 1860, aad sent to President Buchanan : 

SECESSION: ITS TREATMENT. 
No intelligent man who has taken trouble to inform himself, but nujst be 
convinced that a State of this Union has no ri^rht to withdraw from the United 



464 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

States — a union formed in 1776, proclaimed as a union of the Thirteen States, 
and which declaration made in 1776 formed a nation and one of the fixmily of 
nations, which was made perpetual by the articles of confederation, ratified by 
all the States in March, 1781, and made by the Constitution, ordained and de- 
clared by the people of the Uniftd States, in order among other benefits " to 
form a more perfect union ; " and in framing that Constitution, it was declared by 
the Convention that the people of the several States had yielded a part of their 
rights in order to " consolidate the union," and which the States solemnly 
pledged each to the other to preserve forever, in and by the articles of the 
Confederation. It was declared by the members of Congress representing the 
different States, as follows : " It hath pleased the great Governor of the world 
to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress to 
approve of and authorize us to ratify the said articles of Confederation and 
perpetual union." " Know ye, that we the undersigned delegates, &c., * * * in the 
name and on behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and 
confirm each and every of the said articles of Confederation and perpetual union, 
and we do further solemnly pliglit and engage the faith of our respective con- 
stituents, * * * that the union shall be perpetual." 

It is not possible to find language more conclusive than that which is used 
in all these instruments to bind the States and the people of the United States 
more solemnly and more iudissolubly. On the other hand, where can be found 
any article of these instruments, or any fact or circumstance connected with their 
formation, which can be tortured into an admission of the right of a State, or 
the people thereof, to secede ? 

It is said that the States are independent sovereignties, and that the right 
of secession is a sovereign right, to be exercised at any moment, and under any 
circumstances at the will of each State, and, of course, as all sovereign rights are 
perfect, this, if a right at all, must exist and may be exercised independently of 
the will and power of the Government of the United States, or of the other 
States, 

In examining this assumed sovereign right, it becomes necessary to ascer- 
tain what part of their sovereignty the States have surrendered, and what 
part they have retained ; and consequently how far they can be considered 
independent sovereignties. The people of the States, when they declared that 
" In order to form a more perfect union for ourselves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America," they 
surrendered the following rights of sovereignty: to make war or peace; to 
enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation ; to grant letters of marque 
or reprisal ; to coin money, emit bills of credit ; to make any thing but gold 
and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; to pass any bill of attainder, 
ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; to grant any 
title of nobility ; to lay any duty on imports or exports ; to lay any duty of 
tonnage "keep troops or ships of war in time of peace;" to enter into any 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. -tOo 

agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage 
in war, unless actually invaded ; to regulate commerce with forcif^n nations, 
among the several states or with the Indian tribes; to fix the standard cf 
weights and measures; to promote the progress of useful arts by securing 
exclusive rights to authors and inventors ; to establish uniform laws on the 
subject of bankruptcies and naturalization ; to define and punish piracies and 
felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the laws of nations; 
to provide for organizhig, arming, and disciplining the militia ; the power to 
decide whether any and what states shall associate with them, and brought into 
the union with them. 

They surrendered their right to make a constitution, or to pass laws accord- 
ing to their own will and pleasure when they ordained that " the constitution^ laus, 
and treaties made hy the United States should be the supreme law of the land ; 
and that the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the 
laws or constitution of any State to the contrary notwithstanding; and when 
they further ordained that the officers of the State legislatures, executive and 
judicial, shall be hound by oath to support this Constitution." They declared 
that the allegiance of every citizen of any State was first due to the United 
States. After having surrendered these various minute and most important 
attributes of sovereignty, how can it without a gross perversion of language bo 
said that the states are independent sovereignties ; on the contrary, it may 
truly be said that they are most dependent communities; at the same time it 
is true that they retained those attributes of sovereignty, and tl o e aloce 
which authorized the establishment of- the rights and regulations of property 
within their limits, and tlie punishment of crimes committed within their juris- 
diction. 

After a careful examination of the Constitution of the United States, and 
the sovereign rights of States, we are compeUcd to declare, that after surrender- 
ing specifically the sovereign powers above enumerated, it is absurd to speak 
of the States of this union as sovereign. 

As to the treatment of secession, the Constitution, Article '1, Sect'.on 3, says 
the President " shall take care that the laws be fiiithfuUy executed," and by 
Section 2d: He shall take the following oath or affirmation, "I do solemnly 
swear or affirm that I will, faithfully execute the office of President of the 
United States; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend 
the Constitution of the United States." 

When South Carolina secedes, which she will do about the 17th or ISth 
December, 18G0, it will become the duty of the President to take care that ilio 
laws be faithfully executed, and thus to execute the office of President, and to 
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, that is of all the 
States, and in all the States, which by its adoption became the United States; 
and to execute all the powers of the government upon the people of such 
seceding States. 
30 



46G EEMINISCEIMCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

PORTS OF ENTRY— TREATMENT OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

SUGGESTED TO THE HON. JOHN COCnRAXE, M. C, IN DECEMBER, 18G0. 

It is the right and the duty of every nation to rcguhite by law its com- 
mercial intercourse with other nations. By the Constitution of the United 
States, " The Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign 
nations, and amonc: the several States and with the Indian tribes." Under this 
power the whole coast of the United States was divided into " Collection Dis- 
tricts " by the Act of March 2d, 1799. This act is the foundation of "the 
revenue system of the United States." 

The 18th Section, clause 2d, declares, " None but vessels of the United 
States shall be permitted to unlade in any other than the ports following, to 
wit " beginning with " Portsmouth in the State of New Hampshire," it extends 
to " St, Mary's in the State of Georgia," — " or to make entry in any other dis- 
trict than in the one in which they shall be admitted to unlade." 

By Section 18th, clause 1st of the same act, it is declared that " No vessel 
■which shall arrive from any foreign port or place within the United States, 
or the cargo on board of such vessel, shall be entered elsewhere than at one of 
the ports of entry established ; nor shall such cargo or any portion thereof be 
unladen elsewhere than at one of the ports of delivery. Every port of entry 
shall also be a port of delivery." 

By Section 92 of the same act it is declared as follows : " Except into 
the districts on the northern, northwestern, and western boundaries of the 
United States, adjoining to the dominion of Great Britain in Upper and Lower 
Canada, and in the districts on the rivers Ohio and Mississippi," " No goods 
of foreign growth or manufacture, subject to the payment of duties, shall be 
brought into the United States from any foreign port or place in any other 
manner than by sea, nor in any other ship or vessel of less than thirty tons 
burden," * * * " Nor shall be landed or unladen at any other port than is 
directed by law, under a penalty of seizure and forfeiture of all such vessels 
and of the goods imported therein, landed or unladen in any other manner." 

By the 70th Section of the same act it is declared, " The several officers 
of the Customs shall make seizures of, and secure any vessel or goods which 
shall be liable to seizure by virtue of any act of the United States respecting 
the revenue, as well without as within their respective districts." 

By section 99th it is declared that " the officci's of the Revenue Cutters" 
shall respectively bo deemed officers of the Customs " with power to board all 
vessels which shall arrive in the United States or within four leagues of the 
coast thereof, if bound for the United States, and search and examine the same." 
The seizures thus authorized to be made are founded on the assumption that a 
vessel bound for a port or place which is not a " port of entry " is a smuggler. 

It is the practice of nations to give to each other notice of the ports or 
places in their respective dominions which are ports of entry, and the conute 
of nations forbids any collector or other oflicer of the Customs of any govern- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. nAMTLTOX. -107 

ment to give a clearance to a vessel of his country to any port or place other 
than such as is by law made a port of entry of another country; sIk.uIiI the 
Congress of the United States repeal or suspend so much of the act of March 
2d, 1799, or of any other act, as declares a port or place in any one of the 
states in actual rebellion a port of entry, and give notice of such repeal or 
suspension, no collector of any other government would give a clearance for 
any port or place which had ceased to be a port of entry ; and if any vessel 
should be found with or without a clearance bound for such port or place, she 
would be liable to seizure and forfeiture. 

The eflect of this would be, that the collectors of every foreign government 
would be instructed by their respective governments to refuse clearances to 
vessels intending to sail for a port or place in any of those States which had 
ceased to be ports of entry ; and thus all foreign trade with the States in the 
Slave Confederacy would be cut off more effLCtualiy than by a blockade, inas- 
much as that no vessel of any country is allowed to sail from any port iu the 
world without a clearance. 

Adopting such a course, we should be required only to have a sufficient 
force to cruise off such harbors in order to seize any vessel bound for the ports 
of the Slave States, and to prevent the egress of privateers which might bo 
fitted out in the ports of those states. ]5y the same act all vessels of the United 
States should be prohibited from going to such ports under pain of forfeiture 
of such vessel and her cargo, and of the penalty of treason by the owners and 
crew of every vessel which should sail for such port and thus " give aid and 
comfort to the enemy." ' 

Under this state of things, Great Britain and France would be compelled 
to take their ground, either by instructing collectors to give clearances to 
Southern ports, and thus directly to recognize the Slave Confederacy ; or by 
instructing them to refuse clearances, and thus to declare that they considered 
these States as within the jurisdiction and subject to the laws of tlie United 
States. This would blast the last hopes of the traitors. 

Should the ports of entry in South Carolina be thus closed, the trade of that 
State by sea would be immediately broken up; and her citizens would bo com- 
pelled to transport their exports to the ports of entry of imother state, thus 
giving to such State advantages of a superior character. This course would lo 
more effectual than a blockade, and would avoid the evils of treating the rebel- 
lious States in this respect as public enemies. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE REBELLION, CONTINUED. 

An apppfil to arms inevitable — Letters to President Lincoln, Secretary Chase, &c. — 
Letter from George Sumner — Ofter of services — A^isit to "Washington — Inter- 
view with President Lincoln — Plan of operations suggested — Proposal to free 
the Negroes — Eeturn to New York — Meeting with financiers — Results reported 
— Democratic Association of the Friends of Freedom — Suggestions to Mr. Chase 
— Letters to Sees. Cameron and Wells — Letter from Washington Hunt — Dr. 
Lieber — Kentucky. 

As long as there "was a hope of avoiding an appeal to arms, I was earnest in 
my endeavors by compromise to avoid that dire necessity, and at the same time 
to preserve the Union and the Constitution. 

I remembered that those who were the leading men in the formation of the 
latter yielded much in regard to slavery in order to preserve the union of the 
States ; the rendition of slaves, the three-fifths representation, and the per- 
mission for twenty years to carry on the Slave trade, were all sacrifices made to 
"that great end — the union of States. 

The following letters were wi'itten under that influence. 
/ Under the conviction that the Southern States would make a well-prepared 
•/nd desperate effort to secede, and thus to establish " that great Southern 
Empire," I addressed one or two letters to Mr. Lincoln as soon as it was ascer- 
tained he was elected, to induce him to believe that there was to be a desperate 
war, and that if the Democratic party of the North should sustain the Govern- 
ment, the issue could not be doubtful. To that end, I urged him, in forming his 
Cabinet, to take at least two of its members from that party. His path was full 
of difficulties, and among others this most fatal one — Seward and General Scott 
believed it would be best to " let the wayward sisters go." Scott's letter pre- 
senting that alternative delivered to him on his arrival in Washington, and writ- 
ten after consultation with Seward, was intended, by magnifying the difficulties 
of successful coercion, to induce him to come to the conclusion which Seward 
had already arrived at, xmder the absurd assumption that if the traitors were 
allowed to go unharmed, they would return in " sixty or ninety days." Indeed, 
it is now (as I am told) well known that the President was, immediately after 
his inauguration, so earnestly pressed to take that course, by gentlemen who 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 109 

were entitled to liis confiJeuce, that Mr. Blair, senior, felt it was his duty to "o 
to liim and tell Lim, if he took that course ho " would commit perjury and be a 
traitor to his country." / 



James A. Hamilton to Hon. A. Lincoln. 

"January 0, 18C1, 

" As I am sure you will not attribute this letter to any other than a patriotic 
motive, I make no apology for addressing it to you. 

"I am a Eepublican from conviction, and as you have been informed by a previ- 
ous letter, I have no personal object in view. Hove the Union and the Constitution, 
as I do the memory of my father (Alexander Hamilton,) one of the chief architects 
of the last. 

" Tlie object of deepest interest now is, to hold fast the Border States, and first of 

all of tbese is the State of Maryland (see Gov. Hicks's address to his people, where 

the great battle of secession is now being fought). I feel bound to urge you to raise 

' your potential voice to aid in making a settlement with her, and the work will 

be done. 

"Mr. Rice of the Senate (a Democrat) proposed in the Committee of tliirtcen of 
the Senate the resolution I annex, which was accepted by Mr. Seward and the 
repi-esentatives of that Committee. If Kansas was excepted from its action, it then 
appears no principle isretiuired to be yielded by its adoption, but a mere question of 
expediency. 

" In view of the great interest at stake, I must frankly say that our friend, Mr. 
Seward, committed in this a grievous mistake. It was certainly unstatcsmanlike to 
risk the settlement of a vital dispute by insisting upon that which was a mere mat- 
ter of expediency : how unimportant it is whether Kansas should be admitted a few 
months sooner or later. Indeed, it is hardly possible that a law admitting her as a 
State will be passed at the present Session. The adoption of this project, she having 
all the conditions required for admission, would probably bring her in at an earlier 
period than otherwise. 

"If you take this view of the subject, and would write a letter to some friend in 
Congress, expressing your approval of Ilice's resolution, it would settle the whole 
question immediately. 

" A correspondent in Maryland of the first rank leads me to speak confidently 

on this subject. 

" Tiie accord of the Northern and Western Governors of States in relation to 
the Personal Liberty Bill ; the certain action of the Committee of the House in re- 
lation to slavery in the States, and to the Fugitive Slave Law ; Adams' cesohition to 
make Xew Mexico a State, would most certainlj-, with your approval of tiio i::cc 
proposition, pure and simple give absolute security as to the Border States. 

" Allow me to say further that, under existing circumstances, involving so much 
that is dear to us all, it does not become our party, or its successful and iliustriou* 
Chief, even to seem to stand aloof. To be indifferent is impos-ible. 

"As to Carolina and the other States in rebellion, there is no other conrao ftftor 
all measures of isolation and repression are exhausted, than to api>cal to tho uUm<t 
ratio regnm. 



I 



470 E-EMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" The secession of Louisiana inevitably involves a conflict. The "Western States 
never will and never ought to permit the moutli of the Mississippi Eiver to be in 
the hands of a foreign power. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, j'our obedient servant.'' 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Edward Hammond. 

" Howard Cotjntt, Maryland, January 16, 1861. 

" Sir: I take the liberty to address this letter to you as a representative man, 
who can exert a salutary influence xipon your fellow-citizens, by correcting the 
erroneous opinions they now entertain in consequence of the (wilful) misrepresen- 
tations by their opponents in the late canvass of the opinions and purposes of the 
Republican party, and its candidate for the Presidency in regard to slavery. 

" As a member of that party, T speak with entire confidence when I say that a 
vast proportion of. that party were, like myself, induced to exert themselves in the 
recent contest in order to breakdown the Democratic party, and thus change the 
administration under a well-founded belief that it was thoroughly corrupt. The me- 
morial inclosed prepared by myself (not now intended for publication), will give yon 
the evidence in part upon which that belief was founded. It is taken from the in- 
vestigations made by the House of Eepresentatives. 

" The course of Mr. Buchanan in regard to Kansas, prompted by his democratic 

f advisers, and sustained by that party of the South, governed by that lust of power 
which instigated the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, necessarily brought the 
question as to the power of Congress to prohibit slavery in the territories promin-* 
ently into the discussion. 

" The question as to slavery in the ill-fated territories having been settled by the 
people thereof two years before, there really was no practical question on that sub- 
ject before tbe'people. That is to say, there was no territory in relation to which, 
in establishing a government, the question of slavery could come before Congress. A 
territorial government had been established in New ]\Iexico without any prohibition 
of slavery which settles that question as to the country south of the compromise 
line 36° 30', and as to the territories north of that line, the contest on that subject in 
Kansas rendered a prohibition by Congress unnecessary. 

" Your fellow-citizens, as well as those in all Southern States have been told, and 
they believe that the Republican party intend to exclude you and your party from 
the territories. This cannot be said with propriety, tlie Republican party have not 
the ijower to do so ; they insist that under the Constitution, Congress has the power 
when a law is passed establishing a territorial government, to inhibit slavery. That 
power having been exercised under the administration of "Washington, Jefier- 
son, Madison, and Monroe, in 1820, when the question was fairly and squarely sub- 
mitted to his Cabinet, Calhoun, Crawford, and "Wirt, all Southern men and slavehold- 
ers, including the President, gave their opinions in writing admitting the power. 
It is believed that a sanction so eminent and so well established had settled the 
question. 

'' But let it be remembered, in order to exercise the power to exclude, there must 
be a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, whicb should entertain 
the same opinion, and with the President should consider its exercise expedient ; this 
is all the Republican party have said on this subject ; no more. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 471 

" No siuli loAV could be passed by this Congress or the next, or during Lincoln's 
administration ; and by that time it is quite certain thatgovernnients for all existing 
Territories will be established without that prohibition; consequently, this qucs-t ion 
is of no practical importance. We further insist that, while persons arc held to ser- 
vice or labor in a large number of the States by the laws thereof, they cannot be 
held as such beyond the jurisdiction of these States. If the Supreme Court of the 
TJnited States has decided ditferently, we submit to such decision whenever wo arc 
called to act, or to sutfer under it ; but wc still retain our opinion and the right, by 
argument and other lawful means, to change such decision if one has been made 
which is denied. 

" Again, as to slavery in the States where it is established or recognized by law, 
your fellow-citizens have been taught to believe that the Republican party and Mr. 
Lincoln, the President elect, intend to abolish slavery. This is a misrepresentation 
made by men at the North in order to elect tlie candidate of their party, and hymen 
of the South for that purpose, and to excite their people to madness, in order that in 
the event of the election of the Republican candidate, they might under that excite- 
ment plunge tliem into rebellion. 

" Be assured that there is no such purpose, and if there were, there is no power to 
effect it, and further, that whenever Mr. Lincoln shall address his fellow-citizens, 
he will repeat in the most emphatic manner what he has said before, that he will 
most scrupulously guard all the rights of the ptople of all the Status. 

" For myself, I have no hesitaticm to repeat after much rotlection what I said in 
a letter published four years ago: that to free the slaves now in the UnltLd Slates, 
would bo productive of greater crime and greater misery to both races than can be 
imagined; humanity would shudder at the consequence of such an act. 

"I would Avillingly, and I believe an overwhelming majority of the Republican 
party would, adopt the propositions for a settlement published in the Xational Intel- 
ligencer of the 12th inst., to wit: By amendments to the Constitution. 

" When I express the conviction that a vast mnjority of the Republican party 
would adopt these propositions, ic is proper to say that, in various ways, leading men 
of that party have approved of these propositions ; as to the last, Mr. Seward and 
the Republicans of the Committee of Thirteen of the Senate declared that they m ould 
accept the last proposition as to the Territories if Kansas was excepted from^ it, 
thus showing that no princiile of the party was abandoned, and that the exoei>tion 
was a mere question of expediency. If it were becoming in one as humble as I mn 
to question the course of the Republican members of that committee, I would^ say 
that it appears to mo not to be the conrse of wise statesmen to reject a propositicii 
for the settlement of tliis vital conflict, as that which is the only point of real dUli- 
culty, for a matter of mere expediency— the point of time as to the adnii-s'oii of 
Kansas— and particularly when, as she has both the conditions for ;idmission rciuiiol 
by the proposition, she would probably be admitted at as early a i)eriod, if not ex- 
cepted as she will now. 

" When we look at the questions between tlic different sections, and tlio facdily 
of their solution when taken up in a patriotic spirit; it is hardly to bo oonoi-ivotl 
that a people as practical and as well-balanced as wo are, should bo ;:mlt.v of 
jeopardizing the admitted advantages of our Union, und.r that constituti-n which 
may be said to be 'the happiest device of human ingenuity ' to secure the wi-llare 
of a great nation, or, on the other hand, to incur the miseries which will evot.tualljr 
attend its disruption. 



472 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"I trust tliat we are incapable of such madness and sncli Avickedness. If this 
question of slavery is to produce such results, it may be reverently and truly said, 
this is another evideneo tliat 'Heaven works its purposes tlirongh human folly.' 

"As to the Border States, aud particularly the people of the State of Maryland, 
I cannot believe that tliey will be dragged by the Gulf States into such vast and 
calamitous complications as would result from disunion, and, above all, when the real 
or imaginary wrongs may be riglited more regularly and satisfactorily witliiu than 
■without the Union. As to the seceders, let them be given over to their idols — free 
trade and the slave trade — whenever any scheme can be devised under which they 
can be independent. In the mean time, as I go for conciliation before coercion, I 
would try the experiment of repealing all the laws which affect these people, par- 
ticularly the laws regulating commerce, and establishing tlie fjostal service; and thus 
let them enjoy the advantages of a supposed independence, and be exposed to the evils 
of total isolation ; let them carry their own mails ; and their harbors, no longer being 
ports of entry and delivery, would bo closed without being blockaded ; let them 
send their products to mai'ket, as they would be compelled to do or starve, by the 
Oliio Railroad to Baltimore. 

" The expense of this circuitous transportation would fall upon the producex's, 
and the trade, external and internal, of those ports to which the products should be 
sent, and from which they would dr.nv tlieir supplies, would be vastly increased. 

" I hope you will excuse this very long letter, as the subject compelled; and 
allow me to tender to you my best wishes for your health and happiness. 

"Your Ftllow-Citizen." 

[The above letter was written at the request of a Southern gentleman resid- 
ing in New York.-^J. A. H.] 

James A. Hamilton to Hon, Abraham Lincoln. 

^ " Washington, D. C. February 27, 1861. 

''Siu: I ngain have the honor to pi'esont to your consideration an important 
suggestion upon which tlie more I reflect, the more confirmed I am of its wisdom. 

" Assuming that you are still uncommitted as to the Treasury Department, I sub- 
mit to you wliether it would not be a dictate of wisdom and good policy to ofler 
that place to the previous incumbent, Mr. Dix. I am aware of the objections which 
will be made to this course, but I am sure they are not insuperable ; in most of the 
affairs of life and particularly in those of public concern, in your own words, ' this is 
a world of compensations;' vre must balance difficulties, and hazard sometliing to 
to arrive at the greatest good. It will be said two departments arc filled by New 
York, be it so ; Mr. Seward is indispensable, his wisdom and virtue, public and pri- 
vate, will command t!ie confidence of men of all parties, Mr. Dix represents the best, 
because the most conservative, portion of the Democratic party. New York, the 
great centre of the wealth and commerce of the whole Republic, may be considered 
rather as representing the \vhole of these great interests throughout the country than 
those of New York alone, and therefore the selection for that department which 
especially deals with the?e great interests, may be independent of the general rule. 

" It will be oljected that you take a man who is not of the Republican party as 
one of your cabinet. 



/ 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. .173 

" Frer[uent reference is made to the platforms of the Republican party in l^^'jC. 
One of the great purposes proclaimed was tliat of restoring tlie action of tlio Federal 
Government to the principles of Washington andJeiferson ; taking this a>^ your guide, 
the actions and principles of both these men forbade removals to promote and sub- 
serve party ends. You will, therefore, be sustained iu the course I suggest by one (-f 
the great principles upon which our party was founded. 

" As to the expediency of this course, the future of events will disclose a necessity 
for such strong measures of the Executive, as to be successful must be sustained l)y 
the head of the nation. The Republican party is already divided between tho.-o 
who are for disunion because they are abolitionists, and those who are in favor of 
sustaining the Government by conciliation from, and by the exertion of, a mighty 
and overwhelming energy, when imperatively necessary, as it certainly will l)e 
should Louisiana continue in rebellion. The great father of waters will demand iu 
imperative tones, uttered in behalf of the millions who inhabit its borders and those of 
its tributaries, tliat no fureign power shall hold its mouths. Here is an inevitable 
contest. 

" Kothing could be done which would bring to ns so largo a portion of the 
Democratic party of the nation as such an appointment would; it would bo received 
as the herald of a policy, which by calling all Union men ' without regard to past 
political diflerences and divisions,' into one association, would be entitled ciiually to 

public favor. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your obedient servant.'' 

James A. Hamilton to the President of the United States. 

"DoBBs Fekry, N. Y., March 6, 1861. 

" Sir : I have taken the liberty, on two or three former occasions, to express my 
views to you, as I intend to do now, with candor and frankness, witliout any other 
view than to promote the success of your administration, so happily commenced by 
your admirable inaugural. Nothing could be better ; I pray God to give you power 
to defend and preserve our Union and glorious Constitution. 

" I was District Attorney of the United States from 1829 to 1834, I called 
President Jackson's attention to Swartwout'.s embezzlements at their commencemcut. 
I resisted his, Price's, and Iloyt's appointments to oflice because they were bankrupts, 
and all experience proves that it is a grave mistake to appoint any one to an oflico 
connected in any Avay with revenue, who is indel'tcd. Poverty is not an objection ; 
but a man's indebtedness is, because he cannot be said to bo a free man. It is 
always to be feared that he will not have power to resist the threats or importuni- 
ties of creditors. 

" There are persons in this condition who are to be applicants for tlio principal 
places in the New York Custom House, toward whom I havo any other than un- 
friendly feelings. 

"I make one other suggestion; in the existing disastrous condition of llio coun- 
try, and the discords in our party, would it not be wise and politic to select some | 
distinguished man of the Democratic party, and tender to him an appointment? I 
am satisfied that such a course toward General Dix or Mr. Holt would reach the 
hearts of the people, and give great strength to your adiniuistratiou. 



474 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"Exceptional circumstances of great puUic interest justify, nay, demaud bold 
and extraordinary measures. 

" I liave the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your obedient servant."' 

James A. Hamilton to Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, 

Washington, D. C. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry, March 18, 1861. 

" Sir : Having been District Attorney of the United States for the Southern Dis- 
trict of ISTew Yorli for five years, I acquired some knowledge of the Collection Laws 
and the details of proceeding under them. I therefore speak with confidence when I 
say it is liardly possible, consistent with laws, to collect duties on water, and particu- 
larly on board a vessel in an open roadstead or bay. 

" Every vessel with dutiable goods on board, as soon as she comes within the 
jurisdiction of the United States, and the bounds of a port of eutiy, is held (judi- 
cially) to be in the actual possession of the Collector of such port, and so to continue 
until the duties are paid, and she is discharged. To secure the faithful ascertainment 
and payment of such duties, and to prevent smuggling, an inspector is to go on 
board such vessels as soon as she enters the bounds of such port, there to remain 
until the cargo is discharged. It is the duty of the master of the vessel to deliver a 
manifest of his cargo ; a copy is afterward sent to and delivered at the Custom House ; 
the goods on board must corresi)Oiid with this manifest, and (either more or less 
under penalties) the master is forbidden to open hatches, or to take out cargo except 
under a permit and in the presence of an inspector. "When the importer goes to the 
Collector (which he is not required to do within a certain number of days) to make 
entry, if the goods are subject to an ad valorem duty, one or more out of every twenty 
packages, as indicated by the Collector or his Deputy, mu?t be sent to the appraiser's 
office to be examined and appraised ; here is a great difficulty, to get at the goods 
the ship must ' break bulk.' The goods must be taken out and put into a store to 
be examined, appraised, weighed, or gauged ; this requires much time and more 
space than could be commanded afloat. Every consignee has the right to elect to 
send his goods to the public store, there to remain for a month or a year, before 
he can be required to pay the duties; this cannot be done afloat, or in the harbors 
of the rebellious States. 

" If the vessel, the whole or any i)art of the cargo, should be liable to seizure on 
account of any attempt to defraud the GovL-rnment, a seizure must be made under 
a Avarrant (to be issued on the affidavit of the Collector) by the marshal who is to 
keep the vessel or goods in a secure place ; and such legal proceedings must be taken 
within tiie judicial district where the seizure is made. 

"I could point out other difficulties were it necessary, to show that duties can- 
not be so collected. Again, although Congress may, under peculiar circumstances, 
alter the Collection laws to meet an emergency, they cannot, under clause 5, article 
1, section 9, require cash duties to be paid in one port, and not in all. 'Xo prefer- 
ence shall be given by a regulation of commerce or revenue to ports of one State 
over those of another.' 

" The only remedy under existing difficulties is to suspend or repeal such parts 
of the Collection Law of March, 1799, as make the ports of the States in rebellion 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 475 

ports of entry and delivery, tbo whole law referring to such ports must not bo re- 
pealed ; by the 92d Section of that la\v, vessels having dutiable goods on board at- 
tempting to enter a port or place which is not a i)ort of entry or delivery, are liable 
to seizure and forfeiture, and by another section the officers of the revenue service 
are made Custom-house otKcers for that purpose. It is essential that the provisions 
remain intact. 

"On the 11th of December last, I requested the Hon. John Cochrane, of the 
House of Representatives (Chairman of the Committee on Commerce), to introduce 
a bill to suspend or repeal the law relating to Charleston, Georgetown, and Dcau- 
fort, and the other ports of entry as soon as South Carolina should secede, and on 
the 24t]i of December I suggested the same to Buchanan as a proceeding which 
would relieve him conscientiously from his oath to enforce the collection of duties. 
If this had been promptly done, South Carolina, in a state of quasi independence, 
would be in total isolation, and other States pursuing the same course would have 
hesitated. 

" Allow me to touch upon another subject — appointments to office. Your Deputy 
Collectors ought to be men of established integrity ; they have greater opportunities 
to cheat, and are consequently more exposed to be corrupted than any others ; fur 
instance, an invoice of goods, subject to ad valorem duty, is presented to the Deputy ; 
he is to designate the packages to be examined as samples of the whole. The im- 
porters, and particularly those who are the agents of foreign manufacturers, bring out 
a certain number of packages which are of the value at which they are entered on 
their invoices; there is a private understanding and mark which is knowu to the 
Deputy, and he indicates such as the packages to be examined ; this being done, all are 
passed, and a large amount of duties lost to the Government. Tliis trick, I know, 
was successfully practised in Now York. 

" The same as to weighers and gangers ; integrity is the only security against such 
practices. Again, no man who is deeply in debt should ever be appointed to a 
place connected with the public money. I want no office, and would not receive one. 
Although advanced in years, I am anxious to promote the success of thi-^ Rei)ublican 
administration and the public interests. AVhat there is left of me at Vo, is at your 

service. 

" I have the honor to be, with respect, your obedient servant." 

George Sumner, Esq., to James A. Hamilton. 

" March 20, LSOl. 

" Mt Dear Sir : I have a letter from tlie Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Chase, 
in which he asks an outline of the plan submitted to Mr. Cochrane. I Iia-l told him 
of your work in December, and that you induced John Cochrane to bring in tlio bill 
authorizing the President to close ports; and had drawn his attention to tliis in a 
measure which, if passed in due time, would have spared this Adminis! ration the 
sad position it now appears to be in : left naked to its enemies. 

" Now will you write to Mr. Chase (S. P. Chase) and give him your plan, nnd 
also any further suggestions upon its operation whicli time may have dcvcI'»pod. I 
have told ]Mr. Chase that I would ask you to write to him. 

"What I fear is, that the long delay may load to some action in Europe, which 
will establish a disastrous precedent against us. The " TarilfBill " wius nnfurtuimto ; 



476 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

but this may be comiterbalanced by the tarring and feathering of the Britisli Cap- 
tain Yaughan at Savannah, the result of which in Enghxnd we have yet to liear. 
" Ever, my dear Sir, with much respect, faithfully yours." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the 

Treasury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. O., March 27, 1861. 
"Sir: I have the honor to address this letter at the request of my friend, Mr. 

George Sumner. 

" The plan to which I called the attention of the Hon. John Cochrane, Chairman 
of the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representative;^, on the 11th De- 
cember last, looking to the probability that South Carolina would adopt an oi\li- 
nance of secession, was this : 

" To repeal or suspend the 1 8th Section of the Collection Laws of 1799, wliich made 
the ports of Charleston, Beaufort, and Georgetown ports of entry and delivery, the 
effect of which would be to cut off all commerce with these places in ves>els having 
dutiable goods on board, that is to say, all foreign vessels. Another section of that 
law subjects all vessels having dutiable goods entering, or attempting to enter such 
ports or places, to seizure and forfeiture by the oflScers of the customs, and another 
section makes the officer of the revenue cutter officer of the customs for that pur- 
pose. 

" Mr. Cochrane (as did other members) introduced a bill for that purpose, which, 
as I was informed, would have been passed by the House without any difficulty, but 
for Mr. Seward's opposition to it. Such a course could not be considered by States 
which have seceded as hostile or coercive, because it would be in the interest of 
peace, and could be recommended particularly as a measure which would relieve the 
President from the necessity, under his oath, of attempting to collect the duties, which 
would almost necessarily induce collision, and also inasmuch as such ports are by 
the Acts of the seceding States no longer ports of entry of the United States, it 
would be doing no more than they have attempted to do. It would, in effect, leave 
the traitors in a condition of quasi independence and total isolation. 

"Should this be done, I would advi?e that the President, by proclamation or in- 
struction to Ministers, give notice to all the world that such ports are no longer ports 
of entry; the consequence of which would be, under the comity of nations, that no 
clearance would be given at any foreign port for such ports or places. A vessel with 
dutiable goods on board going to a place not within a Collection District, is deemed 
a smuggler, and by the law referred to, no nation will give assistance to smugglers. 
Again, I believe the law of nations authorizes the seizure of any vessel found on the 
high seas which has left a port or place without the passport of an officer of the cus- 
toms of a recognized government. There could be no such officer in a port or place 
which was not a port of entry, or within a Collection District ns established by law. 
"In a former letter I had the honor to address you, I pointed out the insur- 
mountable difficulty of collecting duties on the water even if a custom-house or col- 
lection-office should, by Act of Congress, be authorized to be held on board of a 

vessel. 

" This and the danger of collision would furnish good grounds for urging upon 



HEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 177 

Congress the propriety of authorizing the PresiJeiit by prodamation to doclnro tlifit 
the ports in the States of Louisiana, South Carolina, Ahibaum, Missis-iiipi. Toxas. 
and Georgia are no longer ports of entry aud delivery." 

James A. Hamilton to Lieutenant-Genekal Winfield Scott. 

"Xew York, April IG, 18C1. 

"Dear Gexeral: I am gratified beyond measure to inform you that tliere is a 
degree of loyalty iu this community which is e(jual to any thiiiir. I have passed 
some days here, and have taken pains to ascertain the truth. The energy of the 
President has touched the heart of the nation. All party distinctions appear to be 
swallowed up in devotion to the Union and our countr}'. 

" Permit me to ask if a hale man, of seventy-three years of age, can Vio u-oful in 
any way, that you will command my services? 

"To cut off the remnant of an ingdorious life by a glorious death in the service 
of our country to which my ancestors of two generations devoted their best services, 
ought nut be considered as an event to be avoided. 

" I have the honor to be, w ith great respect, your friend and servant, &C."' 

In April I was informed by note, that I had been appointed a uieuiber of a 
committee to co to WasUiu";ton to sec and advise with the President as to the 
course to be pursvied to suppress the rebellion. At that time I was engaged in 
aiding General Wool and others, and particularly Mr. Wadsworth, iu provid- 
ing supplies of all kinds to be sent to Washington. It being considered im- 
portant that the dispatches from General Wool should be conveyed to the 
Secretary of War — the regular postal intercourse having been interrupted by 
the way of Baltimore — I left New York without delay, and made my way by 
Annapolis to Washington. On the evening of my arrival, I called upon the 
President; presented myself to him, stating in what capacity I came ; was in- 
troduced by him to Secretary Chase, whom I then saw for the first time. I 
told the President that my business was to know from him whether he " in- 
tended to give as well as receive blows, in order that my fellow-citizens of New 
York might understand what their duty was, and be prepared to peiform it." 
He said, " I intend io give blows. The only question at present is, whether I 
should first retake Fort Sumter or Harper's Ferry." I said I was glad to hear 
that he had determined to coerce the rebels into obedience; aud to that end. 
with his permission, I would read a plan of military operations I had prepared. 
He assented, and I read the following : 



'NO TRUCE, NO COMPPvOMISE— ONE OR THE OTHER: SbAVKi:V MIST 

CONQUER FREEDOM, OR FREEDOM MUST CONQUER SEAVEin. 
" A Plan of Military Operatioxs. A snonr war i.s the most himaxk anh i.ka««t 

expensive in Bl.OOl) ANI> Tl.'EASlKK. 

^'First—An immediate and effectual blockade of all ports South oi the Dclawnro. 
if Maryland secedes, or if by an attitude of neutrality she disobiM- !'■•• ' ''•^>- wh><^'» 
is nullification : 



478 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

'■'■First. — In a niilit;iry point of view tliis measure is called for. By destroying 
commerce, the pecuniary resources of the enemy are cut oft". 

" Second — The flying squadron of steamers and others vessels whieli Commodore 
Breeze is fitting out witli great expedition at Brooklyn must he ordered to invade 
every assailable point on the Southern coast. By rapid and threatening movements 
from place to place, tlie whole people will be kept under arms and in alarm. First, 
Jeiferson Davis began the war by calling for privateers to attack private property. 
The slaves are property by the laws of the Southern States. This example prompts 
us to exercise the right of attacking the private property of the enemy of every 
kind, whenever it can be reached. Second, In order to create innnediately the ut- 
most alarm, it would be judicious on the very first opportunity to enlist some of the 
slaves (they are held by us I o be men — we have the same right to enlist men in the 
South that the rebels have to do so in the North), and to 'give them their freedom 
with their swords.' These recruits, carried along with the squadron, could be made 
useful by being thrown into the plantations with the soldiers. 

'■'•Third. — This movement would diminish the army of the rebels by requiring 
one half of their men to remain at home to keep the negroes in subjection, or, 

"■Fourth. — By driving the negroes from their work, it would cut oft" their crops, 
and thus impoverish and distress tlie whole Southern Atlantic region. 

" Fifth. — It is probable that the negroes would be removed from the coa'it to the 
interior. This would require large means, and thus diminish contributions to the 
public chest. 

"/Si.r///. — Attack Charleston with a force of 10,000 men to be landed on the 
coast. There are deep estuaries north and south of the city. The flying squadron 
being heavily armed and of liglit draft could be usefully employed in the landing of 
troops under cover of their guns. First, Thus punishment would be carried into 
the hotbed of treason and to the hearths of the authors of all this mischief. Second, 
It would call all the chivalry from the central army, and Fort Sumter, by starvation, 
would fall into our hands. Third, This measure should be deferred until the winter. 

^^ Seventh.— Yivgima to be made the battle ground. First, An army of 10,000 
to enter (as a friend) Western Virginia, to protect and encourage the Union senti- 
ment there, and then to recruit a sufllcient force to march to Bichmond. Second, 
An army of 10,000 men to be landed on the eastern shore, say at Norfolk or some 
other convenient jjoint, to march up on the north side of the James River (a level 
country) to Richmond. Third, An army of suflicient force to be concentrated at, 
and to march from AYashington to Richmond. These several bodies converging 
upon the capital of the State \vould drive out Letcher and the other rebels, and 
put the government into the hands of the loyal men and people — the Capital to be 
held imtil, by the votes of the j^eople, new officers are chosen. 

'■'■Eighth. — New Orleans to be taken. The States of Louisiana and Mississippi 
to be attacked along their river borders. First, To do this, flat boats, rough, heavy, 
and of great strength should be^ built immediately on the upper Mississippi to carry 
heavy guns. A fleet of thirty to be manned by sailors and ai-tillerists. These boats 
would be moved by steam-vessels on which soldiers could be carried and landed at 
any point down stream, particularly at New Orleans. Second, A considerable force 
would be required which, it is believed, could bo raised in Kentucky and Tennessee, 
but certainly in the free "Western States. Third, The gunboats would destroy all 
batteries which might bo erected to oppose the passage of the army, and if neces- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 479 

sarr, a sufficient force could be landed to attack such forts in the roar. Fourtli, 
Whenever practicable, by destroying the levees on both sides of tlic river, tlio 
country should be inundated. Fifth, TIjc slaves on both sides of the river sliouKI 
be treated in the manner indicated in the second article. Sixtli, By destroying tho 
property of individuals, the contributions to the public chest would be diniini.'^licd. 
Seventh, This operation would call the fighting men of Mississippi and Louisiana 
from the central army to protect their slaves and other property. Eighth, From 
the imminent danger of servile insurrection it would soon bring the peo de to thc-ir 
senses ; and by raising up the Union men to assert their rights, the leading traitors 
would be destroyed. 

" Xinth. — The course proposed in regard to the slaves is justified as a necessity 
of war which, as Mr. Jefferson sa\s, " is that condition of two parlies wliore both 
are trying which can do the other most barm." Such an example would compel 
the Southern braggarts to realize that Slavery is an element of weakness. These 
measures taken promptly ; effectively and unrelentingly carried out, would crush 
the enemy in one year. 

"James A. IIamiltox." 

I find the following indorsement : " This paper, prepared by James A. 
Hamilton, was taken by him to Washington, read to the President, Mr. Chase 
being present, and a copy delivered to the President in 3Iay, 1861. Signed 
James A. Hamilton." 

When it was read, Mr. Chase said, " Capital ! And you intend to free the 
negroes as you go along? '' I replied, " Certainly, and to make them soldiers." 

The President, when I was about to take leave, requested me to call upon 
him the next day at ton o'clock. Mr, Chase proposed to take mo to his 
lodgings in his carriage, I assented. As we went to the door, he said, " Have 
you any objection to call upon General Scott ? " I replied, " On the contrary, I 
should like to see him." 

The General was out of health. He complained of his back. He was 
complaining of his want of a sufficient force to defend ^Yashingtou ; querulous 
and fault-finding with his aids. We left him ere long; after we got into the 
carriage, Mr. Cliasc said, "Well! what do you think of the General?" I 
replied, " I think it would be a great blessing to the country if he should die." 

When the Secretary left me at Willard's, he said, " When do you go to New 
York ? " I said, " To-morrow, if the trains go." He said, " I wish you would call 
at my office after you have seen the President." I did so. Jle thou asked mo 
if I would attend on his behalf a meeting of bankers in New York in relation 
to raising money, I assented, and he engaged to get an order from Cionoral 
Scott to give me a special train for Annai^olis, and a letter to General IJutlcr 
to facilitate my getting by steamer to French To\Yn, opposite to Havre do 
Grace. This was done, and I was to leave in the evening for New "i ork. 

I called upon the President, who received me in tho most cordial nianner. 
We talked over the condition of the country with much interest, lie was 
hesitating as to when, how, and wlxite he was to make an attack. I took the 



4S0 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. , 

liberty to intimate tliat lie bad tbe power to call out as many of tbe militia as 
be cbose ; but tbat Congress, at an extra session, would give bim all tbe men 
and means necessary to put down tbe rebellion. He said be bad read my paper 
witb mucb interest — it was very coniprebensive ; and wben I was about to take 
leave, be expressed tbe bope tbat I would return to Wasbington sbortly, and 
wlienever I did so, to come and see bim. 

I met tbe bank gentlemen in New York, and after mucb conversation be- 
came satisfied tbat tbe Secretary could not expect aid from tbat source. Mr. 
Belmont was present and took a leading part in tbe discussion. I afterwards 
met Mr. S. Hooper, of Boston, wbo came to New York on tbe same business. 
We conferred togetber, and concluded tbat tbe banks could not give tbe gov- 
ernment tbe extensive means tbe condition of tbe country would require. I 
addressed tbe following letter to Mr. Cbase : 

" Sir : I was unable to get here until to-day at noon. The train did not leave 
"Wasbington imtil 6^ o'clock, P. M., Saturday, and I did not arrive at Annapolis 
until the same time on Sunday morning. By telegrapb I asl<ed the Committee to 
meet me to-day at noon. Your letter was read and discussed. I regret to say, after 
the most earnest eiforts, the decision was, that it was not possible to get bids for the 
balance of the loan, under the act of June 22d, 1860, .it par or at any amount above 
the market price. It was suggested that yon should advertise for the loans of June 
22d, 18G0, and of February 8th, 1801, ;.t once, and thus secure to yourself the 
advantage of paying out Treasury notes or offering them for bids to the public. 
This decision was the result of discussion, and was adopted by the gentlemen present 
witb entire unanimity. 

"I hope you will continue to use me if I can he useful to you. Your letter to 
Mr. Hooper, wutb an addition by me, was put in the post office here on my arrival. 

'■ Yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury. 

" May 7, 1861. 

" Sir : I have tbe honor to inform you that I had, by appointment, an interview 
this morning in New York with Mr. S. Hooper and Col. Lincoln, of Boston. These 
gentlemen informed me that, on the pi-evioas day, tliey had seen several of the Presi- 
dents and Directors of the New York Banks and other persons, and had urged thera 
to take tbe loan now advertised at par, without any approach to success. They 
fidly confirmed the impression I had before received from the same parties : tbat it 
was not possible to obtain bids fur that lo in or any part of it at par. The state- 
ments made by the Presidents to me when I urged tliem to take the loan at par, was 
this: ' We cannot take that loan at par. We are willing to unite with others in 
taking Treasury notes at par. You urge us, by our duty to our country, to violate 
our duty as trustees of our stockholders to take this stock at par, when we can get 
a stock of equal value in market at 88 to 90 per cent. To do so, would impair the 
credit of our institutions, and Avould destroy our usefulness and deprive us of the 
ability to serve the Government in future.' 

"I deemed it most prudent, after hearing these emphatic declarations, not to 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 481 

press your views further, because I considered it of great imporlanco that a seeming 
want of sympathy on the part of the Treasury with tlicse stntiments should not 
diminish the inclination of those gentlemen to serve the Government. 

''Mr. Hooper showed me a letter from General Wilson, cxi)ressing the anxiety of 
the President that your views should be adopted, which only increased our regret 
that we could not meet his wishes. 

"Messrs. Hooper and Lincoln requested mo to communicate the conclusion at 
which they had arrived, and to say that it became a necessity for the Government 
to submit to the actual condition of the market, and to suggest, as an easy mode of 
avoiding the appearance of defeat, that it would be Avell a few days bef..ro tlie time 
for opening the bids sh(juld arrive, to add a postcript to tlio advertisement, author- 
izing the bids of persons who would prefer Treasury notes at par, &c., to bo made at 
the same time with offers for the stock. They believe in this way you would get 
offers for two or three times the amount of the proposed loan ; that it would be 
unnecessary to give any other notice than that the offers for Treasury notes had been 
made to the amount of several millions, and that such bidders would receive respect- 
ively such a i)ortion of their bids as the amount of the proposed loan bore to the 
amount offered. 

■' Upon the publication of Mr. Seward's letter to Mr. Dayton, the Government 
stocks went up to 2 per cent. An invasion of Virginia by attacking Harper's Ferry, 
commanding a force to be collected on the western boundary of Virginia to advance 
upon Richmund in that direction, and thus give strength to the Union sentiment of 
that part of the State, would give such confidence of energy, and thus that the war 
was to be a short one, as would immediately raise the stock to par. 

" I have the honor to be, with respect, your friend, &o." 

James A. Hamilton to "William Cauldwell, Esq., Sec'y, t&c, 

" DoBBs Feret, April 21, 1S61. 

"Sir: I had the pleasure to receive your circular yesterday. I much regret 
that I cannot be with you in person, although I shall be in spirit. 

"Public duty requires me to go to "Washington on Monday (22d inst.). I hope 
you will appoint a Committee of Public Safety to act with and in subordination to 
the public authorities to prevent all traitorous action. 

"The eastern border of our county may be used to fit cut privateers; tlio Com- 
mittee may be useful in looking after all such crafts as would be adapted to such pur- 
poses, and immediately giving information to the Marshal of 2so\v York, or in 
an emergency making a seizure. 

" I wish you success in your manly efforts to maintain the Union and to roavh 
all the people, regardless of former party distinction. 

" Yours truly." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Scc'y of the Trca.-ury. 

" New York, April 30. jsr.l. 
"Dear Sifj : I addressed a letter to you yesterday after meeting with the Com- 
mittee of the Chamber of Commerce, which was forwarded by a si)cc;al messenger, 
informing you that the Committee had decided unanimously that it would not be 
31 



482 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

possible to obtain par or any bids much over the market price. They advised im- 
mediate advertisement under the Acts of June 22, 18C0, and February 8, 1861 ; al^o 
the like course under that of March 2, 18G1, in time to avail yourself of Treasury 
notes on the 1st July nest. I afterward conferred with two Qther gentlemen, INIr. 
John E. Williams, a President of a Bank, and the other a most influential officer in 
one of the great Trust Companies. Mr. Williams is esteemed one of the best finan- 
ciers of the city ; both these gentlemen informed mo that it v/ould be impossible to 
obtain par. Mr. Williams suggested that it would be well to advertise under Act 
of February 8, 1861, for $8,994,000 to be taken at a price to be named by the Secre- 
tary, say at 9 per cent, or less, and to offer to take the Treasury notes redeemable 
1st July next at par, in part payment at once. This would be a fair price for the 
loan, a liberal offer to the holders of the Treasury notes, and prove to the world that 
the Government was in a condition to anticipate its payment?. I present tliis to 
you at his request, as he wishes it done. Allow me to suggest that Congress ought, 
as soon as it meets, to authorize a loan of one hundred millions at an interest of not 
more than 7 per cent., not redeemable before ten years, and to pledge the proceeds 
of the public lands to pay the principal, and the proceeds of certain imposts revenue 
for payment of the interest, say those which are derived from imports from the 
Mediterranean, or from France or Great Britain. There were, I believe,, about 
thirty laws passed during the early period of the Government, giving such security, 
and there were such laws passed during the war of 1812, and that with Mexico. 
There is high authority for believing that it would be wise to make this the rule of 
the Government in reference to all loans. I have no doubt that with such a scheme 
I could place the whole loan of $20,000,000 sterling in London without any diffi- 
culty. If I can serve you here, or by going to Washington, or elsewhere, I hope 
you will command me without hesitation. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to the Pkesidex-t of tue United States. 

" Washington, D. C, June 5, 1861. 

" Dear Sie: There are strong reasons and high authority for believing that the 
President has not power to make 'original appointments ' to office during the recess 
of the Senate, and without its ' advice and consent.' I send you a pamphlet where 
this subject is considered at large. 

" But in reference t.) the appointment of officers in the regular army which you 
have very properly called into being, without the authority of the law, I beg to call 
your attention to a letter written by Alexander Hamilton, in 1799, to the Secretary 
of war on this subject. 

'• Congress, you will recollect, had in 1798 authorized a provisional army to be 
raised in anticipation of a war with France, and particularly to add a battalion to 
the second regiment of artillerists and engineers. Mr. Henry, Secretary of War, ad- 
dressed a letter to Alexander Hamilton who had been appointed a Major-General of 
that army, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, requesting his opinion 
as to whether the officers in that battalion could be appointed by the President dur- 
ing the recess of the Senate, or without the advice and consent of that body, under arti- 
cle second, section second, and clause third of the Constitution which is in these words, 
' The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 483 

recess of the Senate, by granting commissions wliich sliall expire at Iho eml of their 
next session.' 

" Hamilton in reply says, ' After mature reflection on the subject of your letter 
of the 26tli of last month, I am clearly of opinion that the Prosiilent lias no jiower 
to make alone the appointment of officers to the battalion, &c., &c. In my opinion 
" vacancy " is a relative term, and presupposes that thu ollice has been once filled. If 
so, the power to fill a vacancy is not the power to make an original appointment; 
the terms " which may have happened " serve to confirm this construction, thi-y im- 
ply casualty and denote such offices as having been once filled have become vacant 
by accidental circumstances.' 

" Allow me to add, that inasmuch as that the enlistment of soldiers for tho 
additional regular army, cannot be so promptly made as to require that; tliey sliould 
be immediately officered, it would not be ' advisable to exercise a doubtful autliority,' 
particularly as the Senate will be in session within (mo month from this time. 

"Should more be enlisted than are required to fill up the ranks of the old force, 
the surplus can be drilled preparatory to being arranged indifferent corps; and 
I oflicers can be appointed to fill vacancies which have happened by rosignatii.in or 
death. 

"I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, »fcc.'' 

Charles Sumner, Esq., to James A. IIamilton. 

"Junes, 1861. 

" Mt Dear Sir: I thank you very much for your patriotic and clear paper upon 
the port question. Since I saw you, I have worked constantly in bringing it before 
those who can act, and T think there is now no doubt that the President will recom- 
mend it in his message. 

" I have ventured to suggest to Mr. Chase that the bill should contain provision 
by which the President might by i)roclamation reestablish as a port of entry any 
one which had been closed by the act, thus enabling him to appoint Custom IIouso 
oflBcers with the march of the army. 

"I am glad that the secession game of getting up a war with England is likely to 
fail. The President, at his first diplomatic dinner last week, said, ' lie had no com- 
plaints to make of any power; that in the delay attending a new organization here, 
it is very natural tlicy could not see their way clearly as to its footing, but that 
time would make all tilings right.' 

"Lord John Eussell's account to Lord Lyons of the visit to him of tho secession 
Commissioners shows a very decided snubbing for them. He refused to see them 
at his office ; they called at his hon-e after breakfast and urged a recognition, which 
he positively refused. He spoke to them vi the feelings of England ujjon slavery, 
and they replied evasively. These are Lord John's own words. Now these men liavo 
not been so evasive outside, but have persuaded innocent John l?ull that .-lavery, cir- 
cumscribed as it will be by them, can be easily managed and finally c.\tiiigui.-.lied. 
Bo they really, in the absence of action on our side, have disarmed tlioso wlio would 
' have stood by us. 

" To return to the Port Bill. Had that been passed, all this discussion about Uhi- 
gerents and neutrals would have been avoided. Two mistakes luivo b.oii ninae : 
ist, In neglecting this key to the situation ; 2d, In declaring in tlio pniclau.ation of 



484 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

blockade, that it would be ' according to tbe law of nations.' The law of nations 

should not have been mentioned, for it implies the recognition of the rebels as a 

nation. The blockade is entirely a municipal affair; the unhappy expression 

once used, we cannot ask England to be more rigid or more virtuous than we are 

ourselves. 

"Faithfully yours." 

1861. DRAFT OF ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION 

THE DEMOOBATIO ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIEKD3 OF FREEDOM. 

" Article 1st. — This Association has adopted the name of Democratic, not in 
reference to former party distinctions which they entirely ignore and eschew until 
this wicked war shall be ended ; but because tbe form of our government being 
emphatically in its spirit and organization a ' Representative Democracy,' it becomes 
all men who recognize this distinctive characteristic to assume its name. 

" Article 2d. — The great and leading purpose of the Association is to secure the 
freedom of the whole human race ; to promote the progress of Cliristian civilization, 
and ' the unity of brethren, and love of neighbors.' Although our means may be in- 
adequate to this great end, the effort is worthy of our age and our country, and we rely 
upon our people, inviting all persons of all parties, of all religions denominations, 
and of all social conditions to unite with us in the hallowed work, by their sympa- 
thies, their countenance, and their personal efforts. We intend to go forward in this 
great work with courage and coniidence. 

*^ Article Qd. — First we propose to bring about ultimate emancipation throughout 
the United States ; to support the President in this war until its successful tcrujina- 
tion ; to preserve and maintain the Union in its integrity ; to procure such amend- 
ments to the Constitution of the United States as will eradicate all sucb parts of it 
as convey the idea of slavery, or the laws of State which recognized or established 
sucb a condition of any human being; to insist that the slaves who becon.e practi- 
■cally freed by the advance of our armies, or by acts of confiscation, shall never be 
reduced to bondage ; and that no treaty of peace be made except on condition that 
the rebel states shall establish the emancipation of all persons held to service or labor 
within their borders. 

^^ Article Ath. — TTe propose that these objects shall be obtained by peaceful and 

lawful regulations, by public meeting, by discussions in the newspapers, by tracts 

.and essays freely distributed, by efforts to form auxiliary and cooperative societies 

tlironghout the land, and by giving our cordial and effective support in the service 

■ of our rights as citizens to the President and Congress, in all such measures as will 

promote the great and leading object of our Asst)ciation. 

'■^Article 5th. — Any person who agrees to contribute one dollar annually to the 

funds of the Association, shall be a member, and upon payment of five dollars 

shall be a life member, and exempt from further payment. 

^'■Article Qth. — Auxiliary and cooperative associations formed in the other 

States, having the same objects in view, may be received in full communion with 

this xVssociation and become members thereof, through their representatives, upon 

sucb terms as the Executive Committee may prescribe. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. -1^5 

THIS PAPER PREPARED FOR MR. CHASE. 

June, 1801. 
First. — Amount OF loans. >S'eco?jri'.— Tiieiii characteu. Third.— V^mkov 

INTEREST AND SECURITY. Fourtk AVuERE AND WHEN TO HE OBTAINKD. 

First. — Amount of loans. At this moniont, expediency and duty to our coun- 
try indicate tte propriety of asking for power to raise the extreme amount 
required. To do so is most expedient, First, Because the existing enthu- 
siasm of the people will lead them cheerfully to meet all the burdens and con- 
sequences of this war of rebellion. Second, Because to assume a large respon- 
sibility inspires respect and confidence. It is the best assurance to our people 
that the contest will be conducted with all the energy required to command suc- 
cess in the shortest possible time, and thus to relieve the producing classes from 
the evils of that suspension of their powers, which, at this moment, is the great- 
est calamity to the country as well as to themselves. Third, Its moral effect 
upon the enemy will be overwhelming by inducing the conviction that they 
cannot resist, with the hope of success, the overwhelming power of men and 
money which is called into action against them. Fourth, In Europe it will 
give confidence that we arc equal in our resources and in the vigor of our 
administration to the occasion. Fifth, To England and France it will afford 
reason to hope that cotton may shortly be at their service. This considera- 
tion, skilfully used, will give great advantage in the endeavor to obtain foreign 
loans. 

It may be assumed that not less than one hundred and fifty millions will be 
required. 

Second. — Tlieir Character. Ask for the power to issue stock for one hun- 
dred millions, and under the discretion of the President to issue Treasury 
Notes for fifty millions in denominations, say of 5's, lO's, and 20's, and without 
interest ; the object being to afford a circulation, particularly in our "Western 
States, where that is much needed. Interest ought not to be allowed on these, 
because its effect is to deprive them of the quality of circulating as bank-notes. 
These should be made redeemable by being received in payment of duties, taxes, 
and payments for public lands, and also giving the holder the power to convert 
them into $100 notes, bearing interest at every Sub-treasury. Such conversion 
would not increase the amount of the debt but would merely change its fornj. 
The lowest denomination might, with safety, be made convertible into specie. 
These qualities would give them an additional value as a means of paying wages 
and for supplies. The Mint ought to be authorized to issue Treasury Notes to 
parties making deposits of bullion for coining, — these to be paid in current coin 

after days from their date without interest. The number of days to be 

no greater than it requires, according to the ability of the Mint, to return cjiu 
for bullion. This course would save to the party depositing bullion tlic espouse 
of conveying the coin from the Mint and the loss of his cnpital during the time 
it is in the Mint, and the effect as to the Treasury Notes would be that the 



486 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Loldcr (being payable to bearer), confident that be could get tbe coin for them 
on demand, would not make tbe demand ; tbey would circulate as bank notes — 
the same reasons that such notes do so circulate. 

2d. — The larger denominations of notes bearing a high rate of interest, say 
eight per cent., payable at the pleasure of the Grovernment after one, two, or 
three years from date to the order of the Assistant Treasurers, and after their 
indorsement to bearer would be sought by investors, by banks of issue and 
Savings Banks as security for their notes and deposits; and the latter banks 
might, by the action of State laws, be required to receive and hold as special 
deposits such notes. This would be advisable as assisting the credit of the 
United States. Currency, it is to be recollected, is made up of coin, bills of 
credit, and all oth^r securities public and private which are founded. u2>on solid 
credit, whether redeemable upon presentation or at a future day. Thus, the 
funded Government debts, if secured to be paid by a specific pledge of revenues, 
form a material portion of the circulation. The amount of such loans to be 
obtained in Treasury Notes would be confined to this country, and they might 
be advisable to be so arranged as to be brought within the reach of the masses 
of the people. 

Such a course would be valuable by making the duty of supporting the 
Grovernment the result of particular interest as of patriotic motive. Could the 
masses be induced to take a considerable amount of these Treasury Notes, it 
would produce an effect upon the enemy in the view heretofore referred to when 
treating of the amounts of loans. 

I have great confidence, with proper exertions, a well-devised system under 
the influence of animated appeals to the people through the newspapers, and by 
public meetings, that a large amount of such Treasury Notes could be dis- 
posed of. 

Stoch loans. — Another and the most important part of the required Joan 
should be presented to Capitalists in the form of public stocks. On this sub- 
ject, various suggestions are presented for consideration. First. — It is impor- 
tant that Capitalists should have a reasonable ground for believing that the 
amount to be proposed now to be raised will be all that will be required to 
prosecute the war to a successful end. In the war of 1812, the evil practice of 
making small loans at difi'ereut periods resulted in an agreement with Jacob 
Earkcr, who was the great taker of loans for himself and others, that if future 
loans should be offered at less rates than those for which he subscribed, he was 
•to receive a return of the difference on the amount for which he had subscribed. 
This unwise proceeding made him and others who held the first loan interested 
operators in disparaging the credit of the Government, and consequently the 
price at which subsequent loans could be placed. Its effect was, to give him the 
condition of receiving all the advantage of a rise on his enterprises and to put the 
Government in the condition of bearing all the burdens of a fall. There were 
other blunders committed at that time in relation to Treasury Notes, not neces- 



HEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 487 

sary now to repeat, which brought into the Treasury worthless bauk-noto.s to, I 
think, about the sum of §4,300,000. Second, the period of redemption. A 
long loan well secured, will be taken abroad at a much better, even at a less rate 
of interest than a short one. 

The low rate of interest in London when domestic investments arc made in 
three per cent, consols, and when largo sums are left with bankers on call at 
two and two and a half per cent. (400,000,000 of the public debt of Great 
Britain held by trustees in obedience to the orders of the Courts of Law), it 
haviuir been decided that if a trustee invests in other securities, he takes tlic 
risk of the loss. This policy is considered wise, since by withdrawing from the 
market nearly one half of the public debt, it induces the capitalists to seek in- 
vestments for long periods, particularly in cases of family settlement at a 
less rate of interest than shorter ones at a greater rate. 

Our Government, from its ability out of its surplus revenue to pay off its 
debts, and its assured credit and consequent ability in time of peace to borrow 
at low rates, is interested in making short loans at higher rates of interest (by 
which I mean over six per cent.) than long ones at that or its accustomed rate. 

At present, the six per cent, stocks of the United States are worth 85 ; no 
greater amount could therefore be placed here or abroad at present at a higher 
rate, which at six per cent, gives a fraction over seven percent, per annnm, with 
the advantage of an increase of capital of 15 per cent, when paid off. 

Should a higher rate of interest be paid on the new loan than six per cent., 
it would raise the delicate question whether it would not be well to give those 
banks that have subscribed very considerable amounts of previous loans in order 
to sustain the Government, the right to come in and exchange the old for the 
new loan at the rate at which the new loan might be placed here or abroad. 

Third. — Jinien and where to he oUalncd. I take it for granted that the new 
loan would be offered to foreign capitalists at as early a day as possible, a? well 
from the considerations before referred to, as because if successful it would 
afford the specie basis upon which arrangements in regard to the redemption of 
the Treasury Notes could be safely made. This would extend thc^ specie ba.MS 
of our currency, and the drafts might be so conducted as not to raise the rates 
of interest in London. It is worthy of consideration whether or not the exist- 
ing ministry might not be induced, in order to make amends for past bad con- 
duct, and by an earnest desire to make a prompt conclusion ot' the war, to aid 
theao-ent who might be sent there in his negotiations. It is (luitc dear if 
certain loading houses-the Barings and others who are connected witb the 
existing aaministratlon-should be prompted to take hold ot the stock, tl,.al .1 
would be all taken up with eagerness. I entertain the opinion that A.nstcr.ian, 
would afford us one of the best, if not the very best, field for oporation.. ho 
Dutch were our first and most efficient aids during our strujTglo for.ndo,H>n- 
dence; and I recollect very well, at a.time when our finai.c-.a »^'-^";.^' ;';;;•'* 
could be made advantageous to them, they suggested claim, to m.cI, favors 



488 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

which were freely recognized, founded upon their early and efficient aid to us. 
In some of their great banking houses there exists an hereditary conviction of 
great mutual interests. The house of Van Stophorsts and Croratimer, I well 
know from my personal intercourse with them, entertain these feelings. 

Secondly — What Semrity. Hamilton in his first report upon public credit (I 
quote from memory) says : " I am far from believing that a public debt is a 
public blessing, but I am quite sure that a properly funded debt becomes useful 
as a means of extending the currency of the country, and by that I mean that 
whenever a loan shall be made, funds shall be provided and pledged to secure 
the payment of the interest and ultimately the principle of such loan, and that by 
this course of proceeding, public credit may be made immortal." 

Proceeding upon this view in his system of public credit, he advised that 
certain revenues — the surplus of the post-office revenue and others should be 
pledged to those purposes, as were the proceeds of the sale of public lands. The 
same was done to secure the payment of the debts incurred by the war of 1812. 
A very large amount of revenue, without inconvenience to our fellow-citizens, 
may be derived from duties upon tea and coffee and sugar. By the acts of 
1814 and 1824, (I speak from recollection) — see Gordon's Digest and Notes — 
the duty on coffee was five cents a pound, which, at the average imports for the 
past six years — two hundred millions of pounds — would produce ten millions of 
dollars. The probability is that the importation would be diminished, but not 
to as gi*eat an extent as one third, which some people believe. Tea was subject 
by the same laws to various rates of duty, from 10 on I3ohea to 50 on the higher 
qualities. Should the same rates be imposed again which would not be advisa- 
ble, and the importations continue as for the last year, another ten millions of 
revenue might be thence derived. There are other subjects of imports from 
which revenue might be raised. 

The habits of the people, and the industrial condition of the country, as a 
general rule, conform themselves to the actual condition of the country in 
time of war as well as in peace. The stagnation in business at the present mo- 
ment will not continue long, as it is not occasioned by the fact of war as much as 
it is by antecedent events now brought into activity by the distrust of solvency, oc- 
casioned by the non-payment of Southern debts, and the arrest of Southern busi- 
ness. The capital and enterprize engaged in that business have not yet had 
time to seek new fields. 

It will be found that the war, should our loans be made successfully abroad, 
will, instead of diminishing our active capital, vastly increase it ; although a 
very extravagant and wasteful purchaser has come into the market. What he 
spends, remains in the country ; and by removing to the army a large amount 
of labor, the effect will be, by increasing the wages of those who remain behind, 
proportionately to increase their ability to purchase and consume. Our cereals 
will be abundant, and subjected to a great foreign demand. It is a remarkable 
fact tliat the tax-gatherer of the United States is unknown to the people of our 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 489 

country, and it is believed that only on throe occasions, and those of very lim- 
ited duration, have the United States touched that great source of rcrcnuo 
which would result from direct taxation and excises. 

I am clearly of opinion that such a system, as the surest under any contin« 
gency, should now be adopted, and that it ought never to be abandoned — althou^'h 
in peace the rates might be reduced so low as to afford revenue very little more 
than enough to defray the expenses of the system. This is a subject of vast 
importance, and deserves the most profound consideration. 

Should this source of revenue be opened, it would necessarily increase the 
confidence of all at home and abroad in our ability to carry on this war of life or 
death; but it would awaken a conviction abroad that we were providing against 
the contingency of a foreign war, and thus give efficacy to the tone of the 
Administration with foreign powers. Its wise anticipation of all contingencies 
would justly commend the Secretary and the xVdministration to the confidence, 
and I may add, the applause of all mankind, by securing beyond all peradven- 
ture the means of conducting the present war to a successful and prompt com- 
pletion ; and also by making an adequate preparation for those vastly increased 
expenditures to which our country must be subjected, of a standing ariny ade- 
quate to keeping a large number of bitter communities in subjection after thoj 
are conquered. 

The issue of this contest must be the conquest of the rebels ; and most 
probably the effect of that will be that they will return to their allegiance upon 
such terms as Congress may impose ; but can it be believed that such a con- 
clusion of the present war will restore such relations as will permit us to lay 
down our arms at once ? I believe not. From this moment, wc must be a 
power among the mightiest of the powers of the earth. Our Government must 
come out of'' the contest stronger, and our people wiser and better than they 

ever were before. 

A direct tax according to the Constitution would, at a very low rate, m- 
cluding the " three fifths of all other persons," afford a considerable amount of 
revenue, and would compel the rebels to bear in part the burden of the war 
they have commenced. This, with an excise duty upon articles of luxury, 
would be all that could be required to enable us to borrow on the most aJvan- 
tageous terms ; to extinguish our existing debt and the debt of the L mon in . 
very short time ; to extend our Army and Navy, and build the Pacific La.Iroad. 
The latter is a duty which must be deferred under existing circumstances but 
can never be lost sight of. 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to Jam.:.. A. Ham.lto:*. 

"Tbeasuht Dei'Aht.mext, Juno 12, ISfll. 

"Mt Dkab Sm: A moment I must seize to acknowlccl^o vour ki.-l 'o«.r. 
though I am too much indisposed to-day to write without ">»^ ' r^*'"' 

"Be assured that the good opinion of such gentlemen as joursolf «nJ -V.. 1.**. 



490 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

far outweighs with me all favored advantages of which some hold out the prospect. 
My wish is to serve my country, and iii serving her, to have the approval of good men. 

"If my consciousness and the public voice assure me that I accomplish the first 
object, and such testimonies as you furnish warrant the belief that the second is not 
unattained, my highest desires are satisfied. 

" Accept my warmest thanks for the interest you have taken in me and my work, 
and believe me faithfully and gratefully, 

"Your friend, &c." 

A EEPOET PKEPARED BY JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" Tkeasuet Department, July 4, 1861. 

" Sir : In obedience to the act of Congress entitled ' An Act supplementary to 
an Act to establish the Treasury Department,' approved May 10, 1800, I have the 
honor to submit the following report : 

" By the Act referred to it is made the duty ' of the Secretary of the Treasury to 
digest, prepare, and lay before Congress, at the commencement of every session, a 
Report on the subject of finance, containing estimates of the public revenue and 
public expenditures; and plans for improving and increasing the revenue from time 
to time for the purpose of giving information to Congress in adopting modes of rais- 
ing the money requisile to meet the public expenditures.' 

" This high duty, at all times attended with great difficulties, is one of grave 
responsibility. At a period when the Government is called upon to exert all its 
power, civil and military, to defend the Constitution of the United States against so 
formidable a rebellion by a portion of the people of several of the States, when resist- 
ance to the execution of the laws have assumed the proportion of an extended civil 
war, which exercise of power must be continued until the ofienders are brought unto 
subordination to the laws of their country. 

" Under these circumstances, the Secretary has conceived it to be his duty in this 
report to confine himself to the duty of presenting for their consideratian such in- 
formation only as will enable Congress to i-aise the money requisite to meet the 
extraorJinary expenditures required most effectually, and in the shortest period to 
restore to the loyal people of this country Peace and the undisturbed exercise o* 
their characteristic enterprise and energy. 

" The Public Debt on the 4th of March, ISHI, was as follows : 

making a total sum of $ 

To which is to be added the following sums received for loans 
made up to date of this report, making the total amount 
of the Public debt $ 

By the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, of December 
4, 18C0, it is stated that the aggregate for the 
of the fiscal year ending June 30, 18G0, amounted to $81,091,309.43 

And that the expenditures during the fiscal year ending, June 
30, 18G0, were as follows : 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 491 



> ^ ' " ■ " ■ T t 



For tlie quarter ending September 30, 1859 

" " December 31, 1859 i 

" " March31,1860 2<i, .i 

June 30, 18G0 21,(i5l,N'j>^.rj7 



(( u 



TT. If,'?, 10*2 72 
Leaving on assumed balance in money at tlie end of tlie fiscal 

year of 1860 of 3,G2vi,206.71 

The receipts for the first quarter of the fiscal year of 1861, IVom 
July 1 to September 30, 1860, were 

From Customs $16,139,831.22 

" Public Lands 281,100.34 

" miscellaneous sources 318,857.98 

Making the actual sum of receipts 2n.3('<5.996.25 

Tlie expenditures for the first quarter of the fiscr.l year of ISr.l, 
from July 1 to September, 18G0, were, according to that re- 
port, in the aggregate 16,543,472.59 

Leaving the sum of _ ^3,825,523.00 

The actual receipts for the second quarter of the fiscal year of 
1861, were 



For third quarter up to March 31, 1860, and the estimated re- 
ceipts of the fourth quarter up to January SO, 1861, 

Making a total 

The ac^tual expenditures of the second and 

third quarters of the fiscal year were as follows : 



Of this expenditure, the aggregate and estimated expenditure 
for the fiscal year 1861, up to June 30, 1861, amounted to. . 
Showing the receipts for the estimated and ascertained amounts 
of the last quarters of the year 1861 the criterion from which to 
form estimates for the fiscal year 1863 (from Janu.ary_30, IbOl, to 
January 30, 1862,) the amounts will be as follows, to wit : ^ 
First quarter, from June 30 to September 30, 1861, to wit : 

Customs 

Public Lands 

Miscellaneous sources 

Second quarter 

Third quarter 

Fourth quarter 



492 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Proceeds of loans made from March 4, to the date of this re- 
port, to wit : 

Loans of 18 

(1 i( 

Treasiary Notes 

Total 

Expenditures 

" The required means and the proposed resources, the self-sacrificing devotion of 
the people to their Government and country, manife^ted by the amounts of voluntary 
contributions by States, by municipalities, by towns, by corporate bodies, and by 
individuals who have rushed to the defence of their country in numbers vastly in 
excess of the calls of the Government, justifies the proud confidence that our popu- 
lar Government is equal in power to every exigency, induces the Secretary to 
believe that expediency concurs with the maxims of sound policy, in suggesting to 
Congress the propriety of making provision at this time by loans for the extreme 
amount which may be required to bring this unnatural and unprovoked conflict to 
an immediate and successful conclusion, and to raise by imposts and internal taxes 
the amount of revenue which may be required to pay the interest upon such loans, 
and their ultimate extinguishment, and to pledge specifically such revenue, or so 
much thereof as may be necessary to such purposes. 

" In submitting this suggestion, the Secretary confidently appeals to the report 
upon finance made to Congress on the 9tli day of January, 1790, in which we find 
this emphatic language : ' lie (the Secretary) ardently wishes to see it incorporated 
as a fundamental maxim in the system of public credit of the United States, that the 
.creation of debt should always be accompanied with the means of its extinguish- 
ment ; this he regards as the true secret of rendering public credit immortal, and he 
presumes that it is difficult to conceive a situation in which there may not be an ad- 
herence to this maxim.' 

" The Secretary recommends, as the extreme amount required to pay the ordin- 
ary expenses of the Government, the increase and support of an effectual naval force, 
and to bring into the field and sustain an army of two hundred thousand men of all 
arms, and thus be prepared to meet all eventualities which may result from the 
measures takeu by the Government to suppress this rebellion. That the Secretary 
be authorized to raise by loans and Treasury notes the sum of two hundred millions 
of dollars, as follows : 

" One hundred millions on public stock, bearing interest at the rate of 8 per 
cent., redeemable at the pleasure of the Government after ten years. 

" Seventy-five millions in Treasury notes, to be issued as a national loan, hear- 
ing interest at the rate of 8 per cent., to be redeemed at the pleasure of the Govern- 
ment, in one, two, or three years from date. The arrangements for offering this 
loan to the people with the denominational amount of such notes to be devised and 
directed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

" Twenty-five millions of Treasury notes to be issued in various denominations, 
not less than $10 or higher than $100 in part, with interest not over 8 per cent., 
redeemable at tlie pleasure of the Government after three years, and in part without 
interest, to be paid in cash at any sub-treasury of the United States. This loan, in 
all its details, to be arranged by him as the public exigencies may require. As it is 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 493 

indispensable to the successful exercise of the power to nial<e the .ihove loans on 
terms most consistent with the deservedly high credit this Government lins always 
enjoyed, and with most advantage to the Treasury. 

" The Secretary proposes that the following duties be imposed. 
On coffee, 10 cents per lb. when imported in an American vessel, and 10 per 

cent, additional when imported in a foreign vessel. 
On black teas of all description, 15 cents, and on green teas of all description, 

23 cents per lb. 
On raw sugar, 3 cents per lb. 
On refined sugar, 5 cents per lb. 

On Manilla hemp, 3 cents per lb , $1,200,000 

On cassia, 7 cents per lb. 

On pimento and cassia, 10 cents per lb 800,000 

On pepper, 10 cents per lb 800,000 

On tin, 30 per cent, ad valorem, or better an equivalent specific duty. 
On Malaga raisins, 10 cents per lb. 
On nutmegs and mace, 30 cents per lb. 
On light wines, per gallon. 

" These duties to be payable on and after the 15th day of September next. All 
goods in warehouse on or before the duties take effect under this Act, are to be sub- 
ject to the above rate of duties after that day. 

" It is believed, under the diminished importation of 25 per cent, below the 
average rate of importation of the above articles for the last few years, that they 
will yield a duty per annum of not less than 
Internal Duties — 
Income tax of 1 per cent. (We want the English tariff' to give us a system. 
Theirs is very complete.) 
Excise — 

On spirits, 10 cents a gallon $1,000,000 

On ale and lager beer, 5 cents per gallon 4:,000,000 

On gas companies, 50 cents per cubic foot 2,000,000 

On railroad passengers on city railroads, to 200 miles, 10 cents; 

under 100 miles, 20 cents 5,500,000 

Steamboat passengers, 10 cents 1,500,000 

Manufactured tobacco, 10 cents per lb 5,000,000 

$22,000,000 

Tea— 

Manilla hemp, 3 cents per lb. revenue $1,200,000 gold. 

Coffee Scents 9,000,000 

Sugar, importation, at 3 cents raw. 

Sugar, refined, 

Cassin, 7 cents per lb 20,000.000 

Hemp. ^^^7'^^ 

Pepper, 80,000 lbs., 8 or 10 cents. Pepper o">^"" 

Tin, 30 per cent. 

Coffee, 5 cents. 

Teas, black, all kinds, 15 cents per lb. 



494 llEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Green, 20 cents per lb. 

Sugar, raw, 2^ ; refined, 4. Duty to take effect 1 August, or before. 
Malaga and other raisins, 8 to 10 cents per lb., crop comes in September. 
Pepper, pimento and cassia, 8 to 10 cents. 
Nutmegs and mace, 30 cents. 

" All o-oods in warehouse should be entered for consumption on or before the 
new duties, or be subjected to them after they go into effect." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. S. Cameron, Secretary of War. 

"Neyis, Dobbs Feeet P. O., September 20, 1861. 

"Dear Sm : I verily believe your department has been required to do and has 
done more work than any other department in the world during the same period. 
Under this conviction, and in order to assist you, I make the following suggestion: 

"Division of labor is the great mean of success in extended and complicated 
affiiirs. Carry out this idea by a division of the preliminary labor of your depart- 
jiient — thus : your war operations are carried on in various departments of the 
country. Employ as many reliable persons as there are such departments. The 
duty of each shall be to receive all written or personal communications made by, 
fnim, or in relation to the affairs of the department to which he is assigned, and to 
make a succinct analysis of each of those communications ; and to submit to you or 
your assi-^tant secretary the core or points of such analysis, and to prepare for your 
consideration and adoption or signature the reply or direction you may indicate on 
each subject. 

"You have officers of the army who are not in active service (by reason of age, 
&c.), who are under pay and competent to this service. I am ready, at a moment's 
notice, to go to Washington to confer with you on the details of this plan, or to be 
employed in the manner indicated. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, &c.'' 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

"July 10, 18G1. 

"Dear Sir: Allow me as a friend to suggest to you to give your influence to 
the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry into the frauds and peculations which 
have been recently committed ; and particularly that such Committee shall be com- 
posed of men of intelligence, firmness, and integrity; and that they have power to 
send for persons and papers, and to sit during the recess. By the exposure of past 
offences, can the future alone be guarded. 

" I am sure no member of the Administration can be more anxious than you are 
that such inquiries should be searching. A Committee not of the proper stuff would 
be worse than useless, and the culprits will be very apt to take means to have feeble 
men appointed ; of this State is up to all tliat. 

" Tliere are numbers of vessels to be seen all along our wharves, whose owners 
wonlil be glad they should be employed on reasonable terms. Shouid tou require 
more, advertise for them ; and let sealed proposals be sent to you, with a general 
description of the craft. After this, appoint two or three proper men — one an 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 495 

adept— to examine the vessels. In this way, you will escape the liarpio3 who aro 
awaiting at your door to steal the public money. 

" I am devoting myself to obtaining information to be submitted to the Corarait- 
tee when it is appointed. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant." 



James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, 

Washington, D. C. 

"DoBBS Fehry p. 0., July 10, ISGI. 

" My Deae Sir : I am gratified to be enabled to say that your rei)ort is in all its 
essential features almost universally approved ; of course, tliere are various opinions 
as to some of its details. I hope and believe that Congre^^s will concur in your 
views, and promptly pass the laws necessary to aiibrd you the large means you re- 
quire to carry on the Government. 

" I am most earnestly engaged in gathering information in relation to the mon- 
strous frauds recently committed by men of high social position, in this city, in tho 
hope that such a Committee of luipiry will be appointed as will thoroughly [)rol)C tlio 
whole subject ; and here let me beg you to use such means as are within your roach 
to induce the Speaker to appoint the right men on this Committee, proposed to bo 
raised by Mr. Van Wyck (I do not know his charactei-). ifr. * * * would bo a good 
man. 

" A committee of five of the right stuff, with power to send for persons and pa- 
pers, and to sit during the recess, would by exposing past transactions, and thoso 
who have been engaged in them, to public scorn, be most useful as to the future. 
I have no doubt that vast sums would thus be saved to the Government. 

"My heart is in the matter, and nothing will turn me aside from it. A letter 
from my friend, ex-Governor Fish, says: 'Cliase's report has but this monn-iit c<>mo 
in. I have only looked at one or two sections, yet I like the tone of them. He is 
the salt that is to save this Administration, if it is to be savtd. Can he live amid 
the extremists — the corruptions that have taken possession of the Government? ' 

"This letter is filled with the most painful statements of corruption, which I am 
not at liberty to repeat. The future, my dear friend, can only be taken care of by 
laying bare the past. 

" Let us have a proper Committee, and the scoundrels will call upon the moun- 
tains to crush them ; I could mention names of men in the community, hitherto held 
above reproach, who have been putting thousands and tens of thousands in llair 
already well-filled pockets. 

" Present my respects to Mr. Fessenden, whom I consider one of our very bc-'t 

men : allow me to ask you to tender my regards to * * *. 

' " Your friend, &c." 

Washington Hunt to James A. Hamilton. 

"LooKroRT, July 31, 1861. 
" My Dear Sir : I thank yon, with unaffected sincerity, for tho kind . ^ : r. .-ion* 
inyour letter of the 25th inst. .. , .■ i» u 

" I have read your published letter with great interest and satisfaction. Jt w 



496 REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

very able and forcible, and your positions aro well taken. I am confident it will do 
much good in the present state of public feeling. Your argument on tl)e Missouri 
Compromise is exhaustive and unanswerable. I am very glad to see the doctrine of 
acquiescence so admirably applied; when this principle is presented so distinctly, the 
enormity of the repeal stands out in glaring colors. The idea of compromise implies 
some surrender of supposed rights and extreme opinions. After both parties Lave 
stood upon such a settlement for (30) thirty years, it requires a degree of audacity 
almost inconceivable to propose that we go back and re-argue the question on the 
original basis, as if no agreement had been made. It is an appalling breach of 
public faith and political morality. 

" If controversies may be reopened in this way, of what avail are treaties, and 
compacts, and written constitutions? I hope you will send a copy of your letter to 
Mr. Eives, nnder your own band. I have long considered him one of the most 
candid, certainly one of the ablest statesmen in the South, and I believe he will 
concede the force of your argument. 

"Some of our friends here propo-e to publish your letter and mine in pamphlet 
form. I think the same thing will be done in other places. 

" With great regard, 

"Yours, faithfully." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Feret P. O., August G, 1861. 

"MtDear Sir: My friend, Samuel B. Ruggles, has passed three days here with 
me. He informs me that among bankers and others in New York of enlarged 
views, the conduct of the Senate in regard to your financial scheme, and particularly 
that part of it in which you so wisely and boldly proposed a funding system^ is 
condemned with great severity, and well-founded fears are entertained that you will 
be driven in the first half year of this groat struggle, to irredeemable paper. He 
writes the articles for the Times under the title of 'War Loans, &c.' (not the money 
articles), and was very much disposed to attack the delinquents. It w%as decided, 
however, tliat it would be wiser to endeavor to make the scheme, as it is, go along. 

"We cannot understand why the whole force of the Administration, the Presi- 
dent and all the members of his Cabinet, did not exert all their influence with the 
majority of the Senate to carry out the views of its Secretary of the Treasury. 
Suspicions are entertained that sinister and personal feelings dictated the reticence 
w-hich it is believed was manifested ; however this may be, patriotism forbids the 
expression of such feelings. The country must be sustained. 

" I related to yon an experiment in regard to the Treasury notes during the war 
of 1812, tried by Mr. Dallas, which affords a lesson not to be disregarded. It is now 
intimated that the Treasury will endeavor to draw the banks of the interior to its 
aid and support, by making them deposit banks. There can be no doubt that you 
will be subjected to an immense outside pressure by Congressmen and others to 
adopt this course. I am sure you have too much wisdom and firmness to yield. To 
do so would be to exchange your means for an irredeemable currency — to make 
bad worse. 

" The banks of issue in this State are all required by law to deposit their capital 
with the Banking Department as the security upon which their notes are based, and 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 41)7 

in the event of failure, such deposit is to bo applied first to tlio pavment of thcso 
notes. They consequently have a mere remnant of property t.. sec'urc dcpimitorrt, 
but regardless of ihia, they can, by being made government Deposit Banks, give no niJ 
whatever to the government. It would result exactly as did Jacksou imd Vim 
Buren's system of Deposit Banks, under more unfavorable circumst:inces, 

'' I do not expect you to answer my letter, you bare too much to do U>r tl.at— 
but if I can be of use to you either from my experience or any faculty I may have 
to -work under your directitms, command me. I am ready to go to Washiiij^ton to 
do so upon tlie slightest intimation. 

" Your friend and servant, «&c." 



THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN.— PUBLIC rAITlI. 

The examination of the question as to which nation has preserved its fidelity, 
the United States or Great Britain, in respect to their pecuniary cnfracremcnts, 
is forced upon us by the arrogant assumptions and groundless as.sertioii3 in 
regard to the United States by the press and people of Great Britain. 

The couise of Great Britain, at a remote period of her history, was marked 
by the same reckless want of fidelity so common among the nations of the 
continent. We do not mean to array the offences of those day.s against the 
people and government of latter days, but to confine our remarks to that period 
which followed the Independence of the United States. 

Rufus King, our Minister to London, March 8th, 1797, wrote thus: " On 
the 28th ultimo, the Bank of England stopped payment in specie ; and since, 
every bank in Great Britain has followed its example." Parliament has 
authorized the banks to reissue notes under five pounds ; and they have also 
repealed the laws prohibiting individuals from making and circulating their 
own notes payable on demand for small sums under (£5) five pounds. 

The consequence is, that the banks are throwing into circulation 20 shil- 
ling and 40 shilling notes to supply the absence of guineas, and the manufac- 
tories and private bankers are likewise issuing to their workmen and customers 
small bills of every denomination which supply the absence of shillings and 
sixpenny pieces." 

Here we find the povernraent of Great Britain sanetlonin ' the payment of 
debts by the bank and the people in a currency which was necessarily depre- 
ciated every hour. The bank of England did not resume specie payment until 
1821, the notes of the bank fell at the moment of its bankruptcy 5 per cent., 
and continued to go down until they reached 15 per cent. During all this 
period, at least 24 years, the government of Great Britain paid the intere*t 
of its public debt in these depreciated notes to its own subjects and to foreign 
holders of its stocks. 

The United States has always paid its public creditors in g-ld or it.s equi- 
valent • the interest on stock held abroad has been paid at all time.*, in war or 
peace, in sterling money in London, the currency of France or Ain.sterJau. ai 
32 



498 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

par in those cities ; at two epochs embracing a period of only 30 years, she 
has paid off the public debt. The 3 per cent, stock was paid off at par when it 
might have been purchased at 75 or SO per cent, in open market. 

Point to any other nation whose fidelity to its engagements has been as 
scrupulously guarded as has been that of the United States. 

It has been intimated by the notorious correspondent of the London Times, 
that the Smithsonian fund has been lost by its having been invested in 
Arkansas Bonds, and that in regard thereto the United States had been faith- 
less to its trust. The writer of that letter having been in AYashington, must have 
known at the time he learned in what bonds that fund had been invested, 
that the Smithsonian Institute was sustained. He, no doubt, visitedthat insti- 
tution and conversed with its officers ; he probably then and there or elsewhere 
had learned that when Arkansas repudiated, the United States promptly 
volunteei-ed to assume the responsibility of the amount of the trust, and has at 
all times provided the necessary means to secure that fund. These facts place 
the two countries in contrast, in a measure which is not altofrether creditable 
to Great Britain. 



James A. Hamilton to the Pkesidext of the United States, 

Washington, D. C. 

/ " DoBBs Ferry, K Y.,"August 12, 1861. 

^ " Dear Sir : Duty alone prompts this letter ; your decision on what it proposes 
may involve the successful issue of this contest ; what I now state I state (upon the 
responsibility of my character) as the result of extended examination, not influenced 
by other than patriotic motives. 

" The removal of Mr. * * *** **is demanded by the voice of the country. 
The hesitation yesterday of the bankers and capitalists in New York is, I assure you, 
owing to a want of confidence in the further expenditures by the * * * Department. 
We will not advance money to the Government to be wasted, or perverted to private 
gain by the ******* , is the common expression among those upon whom your 
administration is compelled to depend for money to cany on the war. 

" Should Mr. ******* i^e removed and Mr. Holt appointed, or upon your as- 
surance that a removal would be made, the banks in Xew York and Bostou would 
immediately close an arrangement for (100) one liundreJ million dollars; that being 
done, the balance required would take care of itself. 

" I earnestly suggest, in the interest of the administration and the people, with 
entire respect for your position and cliaracter, that the removal of the one and the 
•appointment of the other be made the subject of your most earnest consideration. 

" I am aware that tlds is language which ouglit not to be used by me to you 
unless it is demanded by the great interests of tlie country. 

" Should the negotiations now pending be unsuccessful, that disastrous result 
will be due alone to the want of confidence to whicli I liave referred ; sncb a failure, 
at this time, will bring the Treasury to the necessity of depending upon irredeemable 
notes constantly depreciating, which is bankruptcy. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 4i)'J 

"And on the other hand, should it succeed, the confidence tluis manifested by 
o\;p people in tlieir Government would command from abroad any amount of niuncj 
which the present or the future expenditures may demand. 

" I do not go into a detail of facts, or reasons for tlic removal ; all is comprised ia 
these words, ' No confidence in the ****** ^i 

"Mr. Holt's appointment would touch the heart of the nation by inspiring full 
confidence that the * * * Department would be directed by ability, energy, and 
perfect integrity. By giving entire satisfaction to the Democratic party, which has 
come up to its duty so manfully, it would in this State, in the face of the refusal of 
the Democratic party leaders to unite with the Republicans as a nj.tional party in 
one ticket, destroy those leaders with their people. The step in advance made by 
Kentucky firmly planted, and the loyalty of that State would be as well assured as 
is your own. 

" I pray you, my dear sir, to take this suggestion into your most earnest consider- 
ation, and let your clear head and honest heart govern your decision. 

"A reply, 'It shall be done,' under Mr. Hay's name, directed to me, Jauncey 
Court, "Wall street, 'New York, will be understood; and the loan will be immediate- 
ly made. 

" Your, perhaps too bold, but honest friend." 

James A. Hamilton to the Secretary of the Navy. 

"August 17, 1861. 

" Dear Sir : A suggestion for your serious consideration : 

"Sink in several of the inlets along the Southern coast hulks of such dimension? 
laden with sand as will close them ; this will be less expensive and more etlectuiil 
than the large squadron j'ou intend to use in shutting up the Southern ports. 

"I say fill them with sand, because when the hulks are to be removed as thoy 
can be most effectually and at little expense, the sand would be dispersed by the llow 
of waters, whereas stone would not, 

"I would thus close the port of Charleston, S. C, but not that of Georgetown, 
because the contemplated attack and recapture of the forts of Charleston (Uigl.t to le 
made by landing an army through the latter, and not the former; sons to New 
Orleans, block up in this way two of the three entrances to that port. 

" This measure would be most effectual in preventing the egress of privateers, 
and the ingress of foreign fleets, should that be attempted. It is high time that we 
should use all the means necessary, to attack most effectually our formidable cm iny, 
and in this vie.v I would send a naval and military force to alarm the whole Ailun- 
tic coast and the coast of the Mississippi, in order to draw olV a part of the army vf 
the enemy to protect their plantations. 

" With great respect, your obedient servant. 

Hon. S. p. Chase to James A. Hamilton. 

" WAsniNGTON, D. C. Arsu't 2<^ »'^«5«. 
"My Dear Sir: Doctor Francis Lieber was hero some ti.nc ^^ "'•';' "'"^^r^ 
delighted with the photograph of your illustrious lather, tlu.t ho U-gK-od na, |h«« 



500 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ble, to procure a copy for him. You know the Doctor's great reputation, and ^vill, I am 
sure, take pleasure in sending one to his adress iu New York. 

" I must r.ot presume so far upon your kindness as to ask you to come to Wash- 
ington, but I shall always be most happy to see you, and whenever you place your- 
self within my reach, shall not fail to use your experience and attainments to the 
public gain. Whenever you come, you must make my house your home. 

" With the greatest regard, yours truly." 

Francis Lieber, Esq., to James A. Hamilton. 

"August 30, 1861. 

" My Dear Sir : Be pleased to accept my best thanks for the precious gift you 
sent, under date of the 2StIi inst. The boldness with which I requested Mr. Chase 
to express to you how highly I should value a copy of that portrait, must prove to 
you the satisfaction which its possession now gives me. 

" I shall take it to-day to be properly framed, so that I may place it on the man- 
telpiece in my library. I like to write on the back of such pieces historical notes, 
and I would now ask you whether I understood Mr. Secretary Chase rightly that 
this photograpli is taken from service plate on which Prince Talleyrand had ordered 
the portrait of your great father to be painted? And if so, may I ask from what 
portrait the Sevres portrait was painted? 

" Your fithers bust is among those that grace my lecture room at Columbia 
College, — grace it, at least symbolically, for the bust is of the common plaster cast. 
It is at least the sign, the mark, the symbol of the greatest pupil of that institution. 
Neither Washington nor Schiller, Humboldt, nor Prescott fare better in my lecture 
room. 

" Are you aware that long before, as publicist, American citizen, or economist, 
I could honor your father, Niebuhr the historian had directed my attention to him 
as ' far the greatest genius of the revolutionary men, and of the whole American 
history.' I have given Xiebuhr's words in my ' Eeminiscences of Niebuhr.' 

"Repeating my thanks, I am, with great regard." 

James A. Hamilton to Dr. Francis Lieber, New York. 

''Nevis, Dobbs Ferry, August 31, 1861. 

" Dear Sir : Your very gratifying letter of yesterday is received ; the C)pinion of 
Niebuhr, indorsed by you, is a tribute which confirms my convictions on that sub- 
ject, and touches my heart. 

" It is true, as stated by Gov. Chase, that the photograpli you received from me 
was taken from a miniature on Sevres, which Prince Talleyrand caused tu be made. 
He showed it to me at Valen^ay, and on his death-bed it was directed to be sent to 
me with a lock of his hair, and his spectacles. I received and now keep these pre- 
cious gifts as tokens of his regard for my father. 

" When in the United States, M. De Talleyrand was on such intimate terms at my 
father's house, that after he had taken his leave on his return t,) France, he re- 
turned and took from the mantel-piece a miniature of my father, an original, which 
belonged to my mother. He sent a note by the pilot of the ship in wliich he sailed, 



REMINISCENCES OV JAMES A. HAMILTON. 5Ul 

informing my mother of what he had done, alleging in excn?e ' tint ho roiilil not 
leave the country without taking the likeness of his friend Hamilton with him." 

" When he heard of my father's death, two copies of the miniaturo were mado on 
Sei-res ; he retained the one I have got, the other he sent to my mother by one ship, 
and the original by another ; both were received. 

'•The Prince, on various occasions, expressed his high appreciation, and manifested, 
when I first met him, his sincere affection for my father. lie took my hand be- 
tween his and said, ' Thank Gofl, I embrace the son of my dear friend ! ' 

" When he met Mr. Van Biiren in London, he told liim ' the three greatest men I 
have met with were Napoleon, Alexander Hamilton, and Charles Fox ; ' he expressed 
the same to Mr. Buchanan and Lord Holland. 

" His niece, the Duchess of Denon, who lived witli him, informed me that one 
of the copies of his Memoirs was left with her, and said, ' You will be much gratified 
when you see it. He speaks much of the distinguished men of your country, who 
were cotemporai'ies of your father.' 

" You, my dear sir, may see these Memoirs — I probably will not ; sevenyears is far 
too long a period for a man of 73 to hope for. I visited him in October, 1837 ; he 
died in the spring of 1838 ; the Memoirs are not to be published until thirty years 
after his death. 

" These recollections are most agreeable to me, as will be those which have 
afl'orded me the honor of your acquaintance. 

" With great regard, your friend." 

James A. Hamilton to Gov. Morgan, Albany, N. Y. 

"Xevis, Dobbs Ferry, X. Y., September 7, ISCl. 

" Dear Sir ; I am very anxious to be employed in any situation connected with 
military affairs where I can be useful. I acquired some knowledge of statV duty in 
the war of 1812 ; I confess that at the age of (73) seventy-three, I have not phy^ieal 
power to serve in the field, as my friend. General Scott, very frankly told nie, wiion, 
at the commencement of this life and death struggle, I volunteered to bo one of his 
staff; still there is much work in me. With moderate abilities, I can bring to any 
place in which I can be useful, connected with the cmmissariat or quartcrma-stor's 
Dep/.rtment, unflinching firmness and integrity. 

" I am not prompted to make this appeal by any desire f a- rank or em..lninent, 
or any otiier honor than that of performing my duty to my country. 

"As the recent arrangement made between the State and the Vnitcd State,-* CJov- 
ernment will vastly increase your labors, I have nipposed that you might have occa- 
sion for such services as I can render. ^^ 
" I have the honor to be, with respect, your obedient servant. 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Peti^r Dudley, Samuel Gu.l. Geois.jk J. 
Woods, E. H. Taylor, and John 13. Temple, Kentucky Mil.tary lloani, 
Frankfort, Kentucky. 

"Dobbs Ferry V. O., X. Y., Soptombor 24. l«fll. 
"Gentlemen: Without having the honor of your pe.M.n I aoquniu.nnco, I l«ko 



502 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the liberty to address tliis letter to you on the subject of the loan you are about to 
make, in order to sustain your patriotic State in the contest in which it is now en- 
gaged against a diabolical rebellion. 

" Inasmuch as the United States Government has determined to pay to the States 
respectively whatever amount they may expend in this war, or to assume any debts 
they may contract, I beg to suggest tliat it would promote your success in making 
your loan if the President of the United States should direct the Secretary of the 
Treasury to address a letter to your Board, declaring that the debt you contract of 
one million of dollars, &e., will be assumed to be paid by Congress. With such 
an assurance it is believed that your loan Avould be taken in Boston, New York, and 
Philadelphia without dehiy. 

" If the rate of interest is not restricted below eight per cent., I would advise you 
to put it up to that rate. 

" I beg leave to tender to you my services in the negotiation with the Govern- 
ment, and also in taking measures when that is done to obtain the loan. For tliis 
service I ask no compensation whatever ; my duty to my country alone prompts this 
otter. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obt. servant." 

J. B. Temple, President of the Kentucky Military Board, to James A. 

Hamilton. 

"Fkankfoet, Kt., October 1, 1861. 

" Dear Sir : Your esteemed favor of the 24th ult. to tlie members of the Ken- 
tucky Military Board has been received and considered. 

" "We hope to negotiate with the banks of our own State for the money now 
authorized to be borrowed by the acts of our legislature, at an interest of 6 per 
centum. It is highly probable, however, that this sum may be insufficient for war 
purposes, and that we shall be cnmpelled to go into the market at a higher rate of 
interest ; at present we are unable to decide what it may be necessary to do. 

'• The Board instructs me to tender you their sincere thanks for your generous 
and patriotic offer, and to assure you that they will be most happy to avail them- 
selves of your generous proposal if occasion should require. 

" I have the honor to be your ob't serv't." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hex. J. B. Temple, President of the Kentucky 

Military Board. * 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., N. Y., October 7, 1861. 

" Dear Sir: I am honored by your letter of the 1st inst., received to-day. 

" After my letter of the 24th ultimo was written, I learned of the healtliful 
fiscal condition of your State. With immense resources, an unimportant indebted- 
ness, you ought to be enabled to borrow on the most favorable terms. I suggested a 
high rate of interest as most expedient, because the United States were in the 
market as a borrower at 7,-''n per cent. 

" It will give mo much pleasure to serve your great State, as I proposed before, 
whenever I may be called upon to do so. 

" Have the goodness to present to your Board ray grateful thanks for their ex- 



KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. ol).'} 

pressions of kinduess and confidence ; all my tlmo and faculties arc devoted to our 
country. Did not my advanced period in life prevent my serving in t!ic flcld, 
nothing would be more agreeable to me than to fight in the ranks of tiic gallunt sons 
of Kentucky. 

"I have the honor to be, Avith great respect, your ob't serv't." 

James A. Hamilton to Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. 

"DoBBS Feeey, N. Y., October 11, 18G1. 

" Dear Sib : I am most anxious to be employed. 

" I do not seek the honor or emolument of office, but to devote the remnant of a 
long life (seventy-three) to the service of our country', whenever and in any way 
"wliicli, with moderate abilities, an extensive acquaintance with public afluirs, un- 
yielding integrity, industry, and firmness, I can be useful. 

" To promote the success of your Administration, and the reestablishment of that 
Union and Constitution to which my ancestors of two generations devoted all their 
energies, is my first duty and highest ambition. 

" I beg, Mr. President, whenever you may require the services of a faithful 
agent, at home or abroad, to remember 

"Your friend and servant." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" DoBBS Feeet p. 0., November 20, 1861. 

" Dear Sir: Your last arrangement with the banks is a good one for both par- 
ties. By it they are enabled to extend their specie basis, and to make a rcason.iblo 
profit by disposing of the stock in Europe. I congratulate you that you h:ivo in 
eftect secured your whole loan of two hundred and fifty millions, without goitu' 
abroad. 

" The successful invasion of South Carolina will present to the Administration 
the question as to the treatment of slaves with such force as to require it to adoi.t 
a clear and decisive line of policy. The issue may be emancipation or insurrection. 

" Should they be enlisted in large numbers, formed into companies and battal- 
ions, to be used at first in manual labor, drilled and prepared to receive ' tl.oii- 
freedom with their swords,' they would make useful and most efficient soldiers; 
accustomed to the climate, acquainted with the country, and capable of living upon 
food less difiicult to provide than that required by white soldiers. 

" By proper treatment, through their instrumentality, combinations lor insur- 
rectionary purposes could be ascertained and repressed. 

"I suppose it will be be.t to leave the port and district of Beaufort subject to 
military authority for the present. I was deprived of the pleasure of callinj? ..p.n 
you by indisposition, which confined me to the liouse during the p;ist week. ^^ 

''Your friend and servant, *c. 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to Jamks A. Hamilton. 

» Washington, Xovcmhor 24, ISOl. 
" My dear Sir : It gives me increased confidence to find that you approve of mr 

late negotiation. 



504 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"Some of the banks wish to reduce the rate from 905,184 agreed to be the 
equivalent in 6's of 75 at 20 years, because some calculator has discovered that it is 
the equivalent of 75 bearing annual, not semi-annual interest. I wish that as the 
rate of 905,184 was distinctly spoken of and no other lower rate mentioned, or even 
suggested, and the whole negotiation had reference to that rate, it cannot be fairly 
changed. Tiiis to you in confidence. 

"You know I hate a wavering undecided policy, and I urge the Administration 
to take definite grounds in relation to the slave question. Employ as laborers, or if 
necessary as soldiers, all who offer and are needed : and free such, with confiscation, 
would bj my first Bill ; afterward enfranchisement, if rebellion exists or makes it 

necessary. 

"I should be glad to see you in Washington. Kemember that chamber, bed, 

and table are always ready for you at the house of 

" Your friend, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to H. Y. Plait, Private Secretar3^ 

" Nevis, Dobbs Feret P. O., November 24, 1861. 

My dear TOUNa Friend : As I know the inclosed printed letter will interest our 
friend the Secretary, I wish when you can find a time when he is not oppres^^ed 
with his official duties, that you would read it to him. 

" The subject is so deeply interesting to me that 1 caused it to be published in 
the New York Times. If the Government would permit, or rather give me authority 
to do so, I would go to Port Royal, witliout a moment's delay, to organize a brigade 
of slaves ; first, to work in trenches, in picking cotton, or otherwise, as they might 
be required; at the same time driUing them by companies in inarching, teaching 
them to live in barracks, and as soldiers ; and at the same time instructing them in 
such things as would prepare them to take care of themselves, and particularly to 
make them good soldiers. Their habits of submission, their adaptation to the 
climate, and their thorough acquaintance with the country, woidd make them useful 
as well as excellent soldiers, and by giving them 'their freedom with their swords,' 
I would secure their fidelity, animate their energy and courage, and open a door t<\ 
the emancipation of those who should remain on the plantations. 

" "With regard, yours truly, «&c." 

James A. Hamilton to Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. O., November 25, ISGl. 

" Dear Sir : I received your note of the 21st instant with great pleasure. Your 
views on the great question which divides the administration are satisfactory to me. 
Slavery has been the vice of our system from the beginning ; and now when we 
have an opportunity to get rid of it without violating any right or principle, the 
Doctrinaires hold that we must not touch this moral and political evil. All we can 
do or ought to do, is to lead the people to interpret the Constitution as it was writ- 
ten, and intended to be interpreted ; that all our remedies will be found in a reli- 
gious observance of the constitutional rights of tlje rebellious States. 

" This is as wicked as it is absurd. All influences, be they material or moral, 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 505 

slavery, religion, aristocracy of birth or Avcallh, wliich tend to weld nny consid- 
erable part of tlie community into a solid mass, are inimical to our ropuhli'can insti- 
tutions. Tills mass, taking advantage of the dirtorcnces and j.arty divis'ons among 
the rest of tlie community, by giving their strength to either of such l)a^tic^ must 
control the affairs of our Government. 

" Slavery has, by joining with the Democratic party, with which it h.ad no sym- 
pathy whatever, governed the country, and so it will do again. Our only secnritv, 
therefore, is now to extinguish it, which we can do by spreading our .-innics over 
the southern countries, and using the fugitive slaves as our friends and allies. 



James A. Hamilton to Ciiaules King, Esq., President, &c. 

" New York, December 9, ISfil. 

"Dear Sir: I have projects in regard to public matters which I tliink ouirht to 
be brought before Congress by the popular voice, expressed tbrongli mem!>rial3 or 
petitions. In relation to them, as I now intend briefly to state them, I ask your 
frank opinion, and if you affirm, your assistance in preparing the memorials. 

" First. That Congress should exert its unquestionable power to abolish slavery 
in the District of Columbia. 

'•'• Second. That Congress should repeal the net passed in May, 1807, sanctioning, 
by protecting, the internal State slave trade over the waters which are public higli- 
Avays under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress; this act is unconstitutional. 

" Tliird. That Congress should at once take measures to alter the Constitulion ; 
first, by expunging the Fugitive Slave clause; second, by cbanging tlie 2d clause of 
Sect. 2, Art. 1, so as to exclude three fifths of all other persons (slaves) from 
enumeration in ascertaining the ratio of representation and the ai>portionniont of 
direct taxation ; third, by expunging the 1st clause of Sect. 9, Art. 1, and inserting 
a clause i)rohibiting the slave trade, and the admission of Slave States (I join iho 
two that the first may carry the last) ; fourth, that all laws passed by any Stato 
which shall in any way alter, impair, or conflict with the duties of such Stato to the 
United States, or with the rights of any other State, shall be void unless tlioy shall 
receive the sanction of the Government of the United States (this forbi.ls nny act 
of secession, without assuming that, unless forbidden, it might be supiioscd to exist 
under the Constitution). Thus State laws which might produce antagonism would 
be forbidden to be parsed, and State sovereignty would be exploded; Jiftli, the 4th 
clause of Sect. 9, Art. 1, must be so altered as to adapt it to these changes. 

'■■Fourth. That laws should be passed declaring that if the States of Florida. 




the same act a territorial government of the first class should bo onnctod for M.rh 
territory ; and that after the said 4th day of July all laws passed prior t ■ . 

for the government of the people, or which aflect them, or prosoriho th- ^ 
the people of said territory, shall be null and void to all intent, and I-n'"''-'-;; 

"This would destroy slavery, inasmuch as it only exists by virtue of hUitc or 



territorial laws. 



50G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" By giving the people of these States this period to repent of, and change their 
course, and in the meantime, by pushing our armies into these States, we will raise 
up the Union men to assert their rights and perform their duties, and bring this 
rebellion to a close more certahily than in any other way. 

" It appears to me that to print our memorials for their consideration, would 
tend to preserve the unity of the majority, by giving them definite meosares to 
act upon ; and particularly so if such memorials should be extensively circulated 
and signed by great numbers. 

" I beg you, if you think well of any part of tliis plan, so to inform me, and 
appoint a day and hour when I can see you alone, or with any others you may 
please to select, to talk over this matter. 

" It is quite important that if any thing is to be done, it should be done 

quickly. 

" Yours truly." 

James A. Hamilton to the' President of the United States of America, 

Washington, D. C. 

" December 17, 1861. 

" Dear Sir : I had the pleasure recently to receive your Message to Congress in 
a manner that prompts my self-love to believe it was sent by yom- direction. I 
therefore write this note to thank you for ranking me among those of your friends 
who are considered worthy of this attention. 

"Yoiir moderation, firmness, and wisdom will, I have no doubt, by the blessing 
of the Almighty, carry us through this wicked conflict with success by bringing all 
the rebellious people into subordination to laws, preserving the Union and the Con- 
stitution. 

" I congratulate you upon having the honor to be placed in the foremost position 

in this the most interesting chapter, not only in the history of this country, but of 

the w^orkl. 

" I have the honor to be, w^ith sincere regard, 

" Your friend and obedient servant." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. O., December 18, 1861. 

"My Dear Sir: I thank you for the copy of your report, and particularly for 
the expression of your best regards. I have read it again with great attention. It 
is eminently wise and manly. As I hope to see you ere long, I defer the expression 
of my opinion upon its various topics. 

"The banks can and ought to give you another fifty millions. They can do so 
without any greater i-isk, because they will inevitably suspend specie payments. 
In that event. Congress will, I hope, create 'a circulation of notes bearing a common 
impression, and authenticated by a common authority,' and make them a legal tender. 
They will in many respects be better than coin, and therefore should be established 
as a part of your system. 

" I have the honor to be, with sincere regard, yours, &c." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

JANUARY 1862— DECEMBER 18G2. 

Letters to Mr. Chase on Banking Associ:itions and Financial affairs— Restoration of 
tlie Kebellious States— Letter from lion. S. Hooper — Emancipation meeting at 
Cooper Institute — Address — Letter to Gov. Morgan on registering.: vnterd— Leitor 
to Senator Sumner on tlie internal Slave trade— Letter to Cliarles Eaine.s on tho 
Slavery question — " Suggestions for the consideration of tiiose who are much 
wiser than he who makes them" — Currency — Foreign Policy — The cill of tho 
President for volunteers — Arming the Negroes — Letter to President Lincoln on 
the crisis — Circular to Governors of the Loyal States — Rai?iiig troops — Inter- 
views and suggestions to Secretary Chase — President Lincoln. 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the 

Treasury. 

" DoBBS Fekhy, January 1, 1802. 

" My Dear SiK : I wish you many happy returns of this day, with grateful 
memories of your skilful administration of the public finances under the tnost ad- 
verse circumstances. Time and results will vindicate your wisdom. 

" I hope Congress will do immediately what has been so long delayed, adopt 
your suggestion as to banking associations — give you authority to issue Vnited States 
notes of $5, $10, and $20 without interest, for circulation, receivable in payments of 
all public dues except imports, exchangeable for a 20 years six per cent, stock and 
make them a legal tender; tax luxuries, to wit: distilled liquors, carringe.s imisical 
instruments, gold watches, promissory notes and other evidences of debt of all kind*, 
including bank notes (excepting United States notes and stocks); incrojuso tho 
direct tax ; repeal the law taxing incomes, wliieh will be found to benioro vcxntioua 
than profitable, and odious when it reaches the rent or other profits of real ostato 
already assessed for the direct tax ; give you authority to issue stock I- 'S 

per cent, interest, not redeemable until after 20 years, to bo soldinopv:. ; el 

after due notice; repeal the Homestead law; and pledge tlie proceed.-* of tho m\v* 
of public lands, and of duties upon tea.s, coffee, sugar, spices, and dried fruits for iho 
payment of the principal and interest of the public debt. 

" Excuse me, I have written much more than I liad intended, which xrsin to wi*h 
you the compliments of the season, and to tender my services in any way in which 

I can be useful to you. 

" Your friend, ito." 



508 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. William Vandevke. 

"DoBBS Ferry P. 0., January 8, 1S62. 

" Sir: You are reported to have introduced a bill to reduce the States in rebel- 
lion to a territorial condition. I Lave had the same purpose, in a limited degree, 
under consideration ; and have proposed to prepare a memorial to Congress, asking 
that laws should be passed to that effect in regard to Florida, Louisiana, and Arkan- 
sas. I would ask this as an entering wedge, as it would be deemed much less ob- 
jectionable than the same course would be in regard to other, and fjarticularly any 
of the original thirteen States. 

" The territory of the tliree named originally belonged absolutely to, and was 
held in full sovereignty by the United States by right of purchase. The inhab- 
itants tliereof had then no political status. Those of the first were subjects of 
Spain, the last of France — they did not owe allegiance to the United States and 
were at liberty to leave the country; and when as colonies of their governments 
they w'ere purchased by the United States, the inhabitants did not rise higher in the 
political scale than subjects of the United States, that is, if they remained on the 
purchased Territory, they were subjected to the laws enacted by the United States 
for the government of the inhabitants of such Territory. 

" In due time, the owners of these Territories (the United States) conferred upon 
the inhabitants Territorial Governments of the first class — that is to say, a Govern- 
or, Secretary', and Judges; the latter forming a council with very circumscribed leg- 
islative powers, and after the necessary condition of pupilage, they received a Ter- 
ritorial Government of the second class, by which the inhabitants (not yet citizens 
of the United States) were permitted to elect a House of Eepreseutatives, tlie laws 
whereof received their power from the Congress of the United States. 

" The third degree was derived from an act of Congress, by Avhich upon certain 
conditions they were authorized to elect a convention to the end that the inhabitants 
might f )rm a constitution, and by an act of Congress they were created a State, and 
as such one of the United States; to be and continue one of the United States was 
the implied condition of such creation. The express condition upon which Florida 
was admitted was, that the lands therein sliould belong to the United States, not to 
be interfered with by the State or to be taxed. 

" When the people of Florida declared by secession that they would no longer 
continue a State of the United States, they violated the original condition upon 
whicli they were permitted to form a State government, and they therefore neces- 
sarily reverted to the condition of subjects and inhabitants of a Territory of the 
United States. 

'•By their assumed act of independence of the United States, and by their 
attempt to become a constitutional part of another Government, they violated the 
other condition in regard to the public land, because as an independent sovereign 
State, or as a member of a distinct and independent sovereignty, they necessarily 
asserted the right of ownership of the public lands and the right to tax the same, or 
committed the lands to the ownership and taxation of the new Confederacy. So 
much for Florida. 

" As to Louisiana and Arkansas, they were admitted as States upon the express 
condition as to the public lands, as is above stated as to Florida. 

" In the case of Louisiana, the act of April 8th, 1812, is in these words : ' That 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 50'J 

the said State shall be one, and is hereby declared to bo one, of tlio Vnitfd - 
America, provided that it shall be takeu as a condition ujiori whirh tlic « 
is incorporated in the United States, that the river Mississippi and ll,o i 
rivers and waters leading into the same and into the Gulf of Mexico, Hhall \ i- cuH.d. 
sidered highways, and forever free as well to the inhabit.ints of the paid Stale, ns lo 
the inhabitants of the other States and citizens of the United States, nm! * • -V.i 
above conditions and all other conditions and terms contained in tlio 3.1 ~ ..f 

the act, the letter whereof is herein before recited, slndl be considered, ami declared, 
and holden as fundamental conditions and terms upon which it is incorporated in the 
Union.' 

" The people of Louisiana when they attempted to absolve themselves from their 
allegiance to the United States, when they gave in their adhesion to anntlier State, 
not only violnted the fundamental condition as to the public lands; but tliey neces- 
sarily assumed absolute jurisdiction over the river Mis>issippi. «tc., and denied all 
right of the citizens of the United States and inliabitants of other States freely to 
navigate these waters, and to consider them highways, &c. 

"This is too clear for argument; consequently the United States liavc an un- 
questionable right as owners in full sovereignty to insist that they liave revt-rtetl 
to their original conditions of inhabitants of a territory of the United States, and 
that all the rights of property of, in, and to the said territory, as well ns full sove- 
reignty over the same, reverted to the United States of America. 

" My idea was that a law should be passed, declaring that if the people ot these 
States respectively did not by their legislatures annul the acts of secession and de- 
clare them fully subordinate in all respects to the Government and hiws of tho 
United States, as fully and completely as before such acts of secession were pjisscd, 
on or before the day of ■ 1SC2; then, and in such case, the inliabi- 

tants of the Territory of Louisiana should be subjected to the Territorial Govern- 
ment heretofore established. 

" I am not quite clear as to this latter course. I think it well to give them a 
locus penitentice, and that thus the Union men might rise and do their duty. 

"I hope I may be permitted to present to you some further changes. \vhic!i I 
propose to petition for : 

'■ First.— The abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. 
" Second.— The repeal of the 9th and 10th Sections of the Act passed March '2d, 
1809, authorizing and regulating the inter-State slave trade. 

" Third.— The following amendments of the Constitution of tlie Unitoil Statw, 
viz.: First, Expugn the Fugitive Slave clause; Second, Alter clause 8U of K-ction 
2d, article 1st, which provides for the apportionment of reprosentaliun ,.ud tasc*. 
by striking out the words ' three fifths of all other perstms.' Tho clause ' • \^ 
made to read thus : ' Which shall be determined by adding to tho whole o( 

free persons those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding: Ind.un, d^ 
taxed.' Thus slaves would be excluded from the enumeration of inhal.it . 
presentation as property for taxation; and by including those lield i • 

term of years, the States having slaves might bo induced to change _ •• 

bondage for an apprenticeship for a term of years. Third, hxpngn the I.t .I.uh. 
of the 9th section, and in lieu thereof insert a clause prohihit.ng tlu- 
ever; and also declare that no State shall hereafter bo ndm.Uedj: a 

which, by the laws thereof, shall hold any person to scrv ' ■■ "■ ■ ■ 

for crime. 



510 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"I hold it to be indispensable to the safety, honor, and welfare of these States 
tliat all such parts of the Constitution as in any manner or degree recognized the 
extension of slavery, or the laws of any State as giving effect to that great crime, 
he stricken from that ' Charter of Tiurnan lilerty.'' I hold that every condition of 
things which necessarily tend to combine large masses of the people of any State 
into a body having one strong common interest, or as Benton said, ' Which welds 
them into a solid mass,' as hostile to the well-working of onr popular Government. 

"To reduce all the States now in rebellion which were not of the original thir- 
teen, would give to the residue the power to alter the Constitution in the particulars 
above referred to. Unless this shall be done before this rebellion is crushed, it 
never can be done; for how much soever you or I may wish that slavery should be 
abolished, which I do most ardently, I do not believe it will be. As the next best 
thing, I most earnestly desire that I may be freed from all responsibility in regard 
to it; and that those w^ho think proper to continue it, may be required to take care 
of their chattels, and may be deprived of all political power resulting therefrom. 

"lu this connection, and in reference to amendments to the Constitution accord- 
insr to the 5th Article, it seems to me to be most absurd and suicidal to consider the 
States in flagrant rebellion as States of the Union, and to be counted as such; and 
thus to defeat the will of tliree fourths or more of the loyal States. 

"Let me illustrate this idea. It is the first duty of the government to protect 
each citizen in his life, liberty, and property. If a citizen commits treason, he for 
feits his life, and his property may be confiscated. He is still a citizen, and in 
obedience to that first duty, the government ought not to take his life or i)roperty, 
because he is one of its citizens, a member of the body politic. It ought only by 
its strong arm to arrest him and prevent him from carrying out his treasonable pur- 
poses. When the people of a country (as was tlie case in 1793, in the AVestern coun- 
ties of Pennsylvania, and one of the adjoining counties of Virginia) or a State rise in 
rebellion, and by force of arms resist the laws and authorities of the United States ; 
it is the duty of the government to protect and defend each of the States of the 
Union, and preserve them from domestic insurrection. 

You have therefore no right to treat the people of such States as having thrown 
off their allegiance or as having forfeited their privileges as States, sacrificing the 
interests of the Commonwealth to an abstraction. 

" The wise and practical way to deal with the people in rebellion is to consider 
and treat them as public enemies, overrun them with your armies, confiscate their 
property, in short to do whatever the laws of civilized war authorize you to do in 
order to conquer, or in the words of Washington, "To reduce the refractory to a 
due subordination to the laws,' — and when this shall be accomplished readmit these 
conquered people to be States of the United States under the Constitution of Gov- 
ernment so altered, or give them the alternative of remaining as a conquered people 
subjected to a military or civil territorial government. This is practical ; is what 
they would subject the free States to, if they had the power. Indeed, it may be 
truly said that a part of their plan was to change the Constitution and then recon- 
struct the trovernment. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. .') I 1 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treaaurj. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Fei:rv P. u., January 12, 18<52. 

"MtDeaeSir; All men are anxiously and impatiently calling f.,r U.o action 
of Congress in relation to currency and revenue. It is alleged l.y many that the 
Secretary of the Treasury will not take the responsibihty of recommending lh»t 
course which in the existing condition of the country is the only one whi. ' o 

that immediate relief, which the Treasury requires. As your friend I i.. .„. ....« 
statement to you. 

"The suspension of the Treasury, caused by the suspension of the banks, forbids 
the fui ther issue of United States notes payable on demand. There are claims 
against tlie Government which are admitted to be due amounting to millions and 
tens of millions of dollars, the holders of which are suflering even to bankruptcy 
from the failure of the government. They are willing, as one of them not to a large 
amount told me yesterday, to take Treasury notes in payment. Under these circum- 
stanes, after the most anxious examination of the subject and conversations with 
many others Avho are friendly to you and to the Administration, there appears no 
other remedy than the issue of a vast amount of Treasury notes of a small denomina- 
tion. As tliey cannot be demand notes for the plain reason that the government 
has not, and cannot get for a long time the means of paying on demand, thoy must 
be issued in a diiferent form. They must be receivable in public dues and exciiange- 
able for United States stock payable after a lapse of years at say six or seven per 
cent interest. 

" Ydur project for supplying a national currency throngh the banks ex; ''• - 
under State laws to be established under an Act of Congress based on United - 
stocks is excellent, and ouglit to be enacted. At the same time, it is obvious that 
this plan cannot give the Treasury the immediate relief it requires. You cannot, 
here or abroad, sell the stocks of the United States on such terms as would be 
admissible, or if you could, such a process requires more time than you c:m give to 
it. The revenue which may be expected from a system of direct and internal tax« 
is too dilatory to give relief. 

" I have the honor to be with great respect. 
" Your obedient servant." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to J.vmes A. Hamilton. 

"Treasuky Department, Jimuary IS. 1862. 

"My Dear Sir: Your letter c.imc yesterday, and has received liie attention 
due to wliatever you write. 

"WlMle gratified by your appreciation of the Secretary, I cannot say that my 
confidence iu his integrity was enlianc.d by it. It was perfect bef.ro and coulJ not 
increased. 

" As to Mr. Morgan, I am convinced of the vahio of his services. Ibit t> 
time for gentlemen in the employment of the Gover.unont, to receive «:ch wiiiw lor 
any services, whetlier the compensation comes from buyer or seller ? .... 

" I wish a better engraving of your father for the United States noto, than that 
which appears on the fives. Will you m.t do n,o the fuvor ot allowing the Amen- 



512 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

can and National Bank Note Companies each to engrave tliat of wliicli you kindly 
sent me a copy? 

" Wlien sliall I Iiavc the pleasui-e of seeing you here ? 

" Yours cordially, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to lion. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferey P. O. January 28, 1862. 

" My Dear Sir : Owing to my absence, I did not receive your letter of the 18th 
instant until Saturday evening the 25th instant. On Monday I took to the city the 
Talleyrand miniature (a ]diotograph of the same miniature v/hich my dear mother 
■wore on her hreast, with the letter last addressed to her hy her husband, until Ijer 
death), and an engraving of the original bust by Durand. You will see this in the 
1st Volume of Hamilton's "Works. I took these to the National Company first — 
the Talleyrand miniature was prepared for their work — then to the American, 
wdiere their artist was engaged in copying Durand's engraving, intending to make 
it more life-like in various ways. For this purpose the directors wished me to leave 
with them the photograph and the Iwo miniatures, which I did. In answer to my 
inquiries as to when tliey would be returned, I regretted to learn that it would not 
be short of a month. 

" I will take care to alford each company every facility, well knowing how very 
important it is to you that you should be provided with tliese notes without delay. 

" I agree entirely in your views as to Mr. M's compmsation. 

"As I cannot leave my wife in the absence of our daughter, which has confined 
me here, expecting the difliculty to be removed when my daughter, Mrs. Schuyler, 
leaves Washington, I anticipate the pleasure of seeing you early in February. 

" Your obedient servant." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to James A. Hamilton. 

" Treasury Department, February 3, 1862. 
"My Dear Sir: Your letter of January 28th is received. I am glad the en- 
gravers are at work npon tlie likeness of your father, and I shall liurry them up. 
If the plates are not ready for the present issue, they may be used hereafter by sub- 
stituting them for the head now used. 

" Yours most truly, &c." 



'D 



S. Hooper to James A. Hamilton. 

" "Washington, February 9, 1862. 
"My Dear Sir : I must thank you for your kind letter of the 6th instant, and 
assure you of the gratification to me of your approval of my speech, and your 
friendly expression in reference to it. My opinion is that the bill will be parsed 
this Aveek in the Senate, but I regret the necessity which obliged Mr. Chase to ask 
fur autliority from Congress to issue ten millions temporarily, for wliicli he has 
arranged in New York at the rate of 5 per. cent, per annum, fearing it i;;ay be used 
as an excuse by the Senate for delay in passing this more important bill. I thank 
you for the references in regard to ' Sinking Fund ' and 'Legal Tenders.' I have had 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 513 

doubts in regard to special appropriations of any portion of the revenues as pledRcd for 
particular debts wLicli were appropriate to the condition of the count r/ in 1790 
but as it has seemed to me, not to our present character of a firit-cluss i)ower aiuong 
the nations of the earth. 

"I regret that I have not time to reply more at lengtli to your letter, but Mn». 
Schuyler, whose visit here we have enjoyed very much, -will inform you how litUo 
time I have to attend to letters, and it is always a great pleasure to mo to read one 
from you. 

"Mrs. Schuyler encouraged us to hope that we may have the pleasure of seeing 
you here next week, and I trust it is only a pleasure deferred for a sliort time. 
" I am, my dear sir, 

" Very truly and respectfully yours, &c." 

Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to Jamk.s A. IIamiltox. 

" WAsnixGTOx, February 15, ISC'2. 
My Dear Sir: Your note has jnst reached me. It disappoints me much ; bnt 
I shall regard it as only a postponement of the pleasure and benclit anticipalud from 
your visit, and hope that the postponement will be only to the earliest day you can 
find. 

"You are most kindly remembered by my daughter as well as by myself, and 
will always he a most welcome guest. 

"Your friend, &c. 

"Have you seen the proofs of your father's portrait as engraved? "Which do 
you like best ? " 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Ciiask, Secretary of the 

Treasury. 

"New Youk, Marcii o, 1^02. 

" My Dear Sir : Tlie engraving by the American Bank Note Company from the 
bust is very good. That by the National from the miniature is much hotter— both 

are satisfactory. 

" I have been invited to preside at a mass meeting here, to express the views of 
this city on such measures as are required to destroy the power of our eno.ny ; 
slavery, confiscation, territorial governments, colonies of ciuhzat.on to 1^> planted 
in every slave State like that which you have authorized on ti,o abandoned S..» Ishu.d 
plantations of South Carolina. Such a course would give to the sluvehoMcrs tho 
choice between gradual emancipation and insurrection. 

"The success of our armies will very shortly put down all loro.blo res.sUnce. 
The necessity for exercising the war power to get rid of slavery w.ll cea.o. and o.tr 
Union will be restored with the slavery poison rendered more concentr,»tod and 
efi-ective for mischief than before. I have fearful forebodings as to the . 
and welfare of the country. We now have the power but want the c...: 
rect the error of ' the fathers.' We will, again, in order to secure the 1 m...,. jrUJ 
to the den.ands of Slavery. I rejoice that your department ,s n-hovod. 

" With great respect, your Inond, xc 



On March G, 1862, I was invited to preside at an on.ancipatiou 
33 



al 



514 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

the Cooper Institute. This was the first meeting on the subject in New York, 
it was very numerous and very enthusiastic. The President made the follow- 
ing address : 

"Fellow-citizens — The honor of pre-;iding at this thronged meeting of those who 
represent the intelligence, the wealth, the enterprise, the mechanical skill and labor 
of this great city excites my sensibility from the conviction, that your choice has 
been induced not by considerations personal to myself, but from re-pect to tlie mem- 
ory of him whose name I bear (cheers). "We are assembled here to express to the 
President and the Congress of the United States our views of slavery, its influence 
upon our National character, and the destiny of onr country, and to advise the 
adoption of such measures as will give us permanent peace, and thus Si.'cure the 
future from the dangers and cfdamities of the present. Let the voices of the loyal 
men of this metropolis be given out in no ambiguous terms ; let it be the utterance 
of earnest men, impressed with the magnitude of the conseijuences involved. Let 
us under the hallowed influence of patriotism — of a sense of our duty to the oppress- 
ed of this Nation — treat this great subject so decisively as tliat the echo of your voice 
may come up from the loyal people in all parts of the nation, in tones which cannot 
be mistaken or disregarded by their representatives (cheers). With your permission 
I will briefly express my opinions of the duties of the people, the powers and duties 
of the Government in regard to slavery. The great principle on which our ' Repre- 
sentative Democracy ' is founded, is ' The Freedom of Man ' (Applause). In obedi- 
ence to this great principle, it is your duty to express your earnest conviction, that 
slavery is not only a great crime, but also a great social and political evil (cheers) ; 
that it is the direct and immediate cause of the calamities which so sorely afflict the 
whole country ; and, above all, to express your fixed determination that the course 
and policy of your Government shall hereafter be to develop the great principle of 
human freedom, and not as hitherto it has been to extend and fortify slavery 
(Applau-e). "We are told the Government has no power to destroy slavei'y, because 
the right of one man to hold his fellow-man in perpetual and degrading bondage is 
established by Stat-e laws. I answer, such laws cannot rightfully exist, either under 
the Government of the United States, or of the States. Man was created in the ex- 
press image of his Maker — a responsible being, having an immortal soul. No power 
less than that which created him, less than omnipotent, can reduce him from his 
condition of a man to that of a brute, a chattel (cheering). 

" Has the Government the power to destroy slavery ? We are engaged in a war 
which involves the life or death of the nation. A blow in behalf of slavery has been 
struck at the national existence. Every Government, whatever may be its Consti- 
tution, is necessarily armed with all the powers required to preserve its life. In the 
exercise of those powers, it has the right and it is its duty, to destroy property, in- 
stitutions, laws of State, and the lives of those who are, or may be employed for its 
destruction ; or which may expose the nation to a death struggle at a future period. 
(Applause). The?e are rights and duties not to be sought for in Constitutions or 
laws. They are given and imposed on all Governments by that great law of nature, 
the laAV of self-preservation. 

" The President, by his oath of office, is bound to 'the best of his ability to pre- 
serve, protect, and defend the Constitution.' You will observe he is required to 
devote to this first great duty all his ability. lie is not limited in doing so to the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 515 

means committed to liim by the Constitution or the laws. From theno consiilcra- 
tion?, it is indisputable that slavery, whether sanctioned or not bv Stato Inw. ix.w 
imminently endangers the national life, or threatens to do so; and thercforo niay bo 
destroyed by the Government of the United States. As to the question, whotlier in tho 
exercise of this power the Government cfin disregard its own obligations or ll.o ri^ht 
of persons (applause), I will, in answer, refer to an anth.-rity wliich is well 
entitled to your respect. One of ' the fatliers ' (Alexander lianiilton), in discussing 
the question whether a nation may, ia certain extraordinary cases, be excusablo for 
not observing a right in the performance of a duty, says : 

" ' A nation is excusable, in certain extraordinary cases, for not observing a ri^ht 
in performing a duty, if the one or the other would involve a manifest and grave 
national calamity. But here. also an extreme case is intended. Tlie calamity to bo 
averted must not only be evident and considerable, it must be such as is likely to 
prove fatal to the nation, as thi-eatens its existence, oratlenst its permnncnt welfare. 

" ' Of the second class of exceptions (those which threaten the i)ermMnent welfare 
of the nation), the case of certain feudal rights which once opprcs-cd all Kuropc, 
and still oppress too great a portion of it, may serve as an example : rights which 
made absolute slaves of a part of the community, and rendered the condition of 
the remainder not much more eligible. 

" ' These rights, though involving that of property, being contrary to the sjcial 
order and to the permanent welfare of society, were justifiably abolished in tho in- 
stances in which abolitions have taken place, and may be abolished in all the remain- 
ing vestiges. (Cheering.) 

" ' Whenever, indeed, a right of property is infringed for the general good, if tho 
nature of the case admits of compensation, it ought to be made; but if com|)onsa- 
tion be impracticable, that impracticability ought not to be an obstacle to a clearly 
essential reform ! ' (Applause.) 

"Fellow-citizens! the people of the loyal States have, with unequalled patriot- 
ism, devoted their lives to the service of the country. The Government, through 
its various departments, has formed an army and a navy of vast proportions and the 
most efficient character, with a promptitude and skill most honorable to them. Now- 
let the people require that this accumulated power shall be used not only to crush 
out armed rebellion, but its malignant cause. (Tremendous and long-continued 
cheering.) Your military and naval forces, with rapid blows, are destroying tho 
military power of your enemy ; but unless the last blow which is struck .'itrikos off 
the fetters of the slaves, the work of restoring the Constitution and the Union will 
be mockery. (Great applause.) 

" I may here remark, that although I detested tho system of slavery as n great 
crime and a great social and political evil, I was not an abolitionist, because I wol! 
knew that when the Constitution of the United States was formed and adopted, it 
was well known that slavery might and would continue in all tho States which 
should so decide, and that during a period of twenty years. Congress was not nliowcd 
to pass any law prohibiting the slave trade ; and further, that if this had not k-en 
so understood, the Constitution would not have been adopted hy tho shvMhns 
States. I therefore believed, in the true spirit of this understanding, that I waMo- 
hibited from interfering with tho accursed thing. But as soon ns the »l«vol.oldor. 
threw off their obligations under the Constitution, I was freed fn.in niino; and I 
therefore indulged those feelings which my father had excited when he wr.> o 



516 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

'"The sacvcd rights of mankind are written as with a snnheani in the whole 
volume of human nature, hy the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased 
or obscured by mortal power.' 

"Again: 

" ' I am inviolably attached to the essential rights of mankind and the true inter- 
ests of society. I consider civil liberty as the greatest of terrestrial blessings. I am 
convinced that the whole human race is entitled to it, and that it can be wrested 
from no part of them without the blackest and most aggravated guilt.' 

" Blackstone. — ' The Deity has constituted an eternal and immutable law which 
is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind prior to any human institution what- 
ever. This is what is called the law of nature.' Hamilton adds : ' Upon this law 
depend the rights of mankind. The Supreme Being gave existence to man together 
with the means of preserving and beautifying that existence. lie endowed him 
with rational faculties by the help of which to discover and pursue such things as 
are consistent with his duty and interest, and invested him with the inviolable right 
to personal liberty and to personal safety. 

" ' Natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race, 
and civil liberty is founded on that and cannot be wrested from any people without 
the most manifest violation of justice. Civil liberty is only natural liberty modified 
and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing in its own nature 
precrrious, and dependent upon human will and caprice, bnt it is conformable to the 
constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society.' " 



James A. Hamilton to His Excellency Gov. Morgan, Albany, 

" DoBBS Feery p. O., March 19, 1862. 

" Deae Sib : I take the liberty to suggest that it would be eminently proper that 
a law should be passed at the present Session of the New York Legislature, authoriz- 
ing all persons who, being inhabitants of this State, have enlisted in tlie army of the 
United States, or volunteered in the service of this State, who may be in the field at 
the period of any election held in this State for the election of officers of the United 
States, or the State of New York, shall be entitled to vote at the next and all future 
elections ; and that the Governor shall appoint two Commissioners to go to the place 
where such persons may be to receive their votes, and that all such persons here- 
after whenever they return to tliis State to reside therein, shall be entitled to be 
enregistered and to vote at any election in this State. And I beg leave further to 
suggest that it would be well for you as Governor, by a special message to bring 
.this subject to the attention of the Legislature, 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your friend and servant, 

" James A. Hamilton." 



James A. Hamilton to Senator Charles Sumner. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferey P. 0., April 30, 18G2. 
"Dear Sir: The most offensive legislation of the United States in regard to 
-.slavery is that whicli protects the internal slave trade. It is found in the Act of March 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. T, 1 



M I 



2d, 1807, Sections 9 and 10. The langunge, 'No captain' and 'of any ven'cl, ice' 
shall after the 1st of January, 1808, sailing coastwise from any port of tho r'nilcj 
States to any port or place within tho jurisdiction of tlie same, having on bnar*! nny 
negroes, &c., for the purpose of transporting them to be sold or dispo.-^cd of as sla\o» 
&c., shall previous to the departure of such vessel make out and subscribe dupli- 
cate manifests of any such negro on board such vessel, &c., and deliver sucli innnl- 
feststo the collector of the port, &c., and the collector shall give a permit, dtc, nn- 
thorizing him (the captain) to proceed to the port of lii-t destination. Tlio 10th 
section provides that on arrival at the port of destination, tho collector sliall give a 
permit to land such negroes, &c.' 

"I call your attention to this Act in tho liope that you will cause this section to 
be repealed ; fAd, prohibiting a vessel from receiving a clearance, will strike nnolbcr 
blow at the monstei-, and thus present another claim to the applause of your coun- 
trymen. 

" I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, &c." 

May 2(1, 1862, Mr. Sumner gave notice that he intended to introduce a bill 
to repeal the above law. 

James A. Hamilton to Edward Cooper, Esq., New York. 

"DoRBs Ferrt, ^fay U, 1SC2. 
"Dear Sir : I had the pleasure yesterday evening to receive your letter of tli 



e 



12th inst., with the pamphlet to which it refers. Keceive my thanks for botti. I 
am anxious to impress upon the public mind and the Government the noce.-isity and 
advantage of developing the vast resources of our country in all materials necessary 
to produce iron of the best, as well as all other qualities. 

" I hold that diversified labor is the source of the greatest wealth and power of 
a nation ; that the production of iron is of greater advantage than of gold, and that 
the change in the engines of war from wood to iron renders such development a 
duty of the Government and a necessity for the nation. 

" To pay the interest on our public debt will require a high rate of duty on man- 
ufactures which will thus give them adequate protection. This is necessary ; but I 
hold it to be more necessary that capitalists should be assured that tho Govcrumefct 
will adopt that as a persistent policy. 

"As a practical and intelligeut man, I should like to have your view., on th«» 

subject. 

" Do me the favor to present ray best respects to your father, Mr. I eter Cou|»er 
whom I so much esteem and respect. Let mo give you an anecdote. _ ^ 

"Durin- the late canvass for President in which I felt a deep interest. Wing m 
a railroad car passing the Cooper Institute, there was an excited c. nvorsat.on upon 
the subject of the President ; when standing upon the platform. I saidin 

' Gentlemen, I would rather be the man who built that house than 

the United States ; ' this was received with acclamation. 

" With respect, your obedient porvant. 



518 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

James A. Hamilton to Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., May 19, 1862. 

" My Dear Sir : It aftbrds me very great pleasure to congratulate you on the 
triumphant success of your financial system. 

"I am greatly amused by the commotion of those who, confident in their very 
superficial knowledge of the subject, imputed to your measures the suspension of the 
banks, and the inevitable destruction of the credit of the Government, now rejoicing 
at the rise of stocks, the increase of their specie basis, and other advantages; but at 
the same time insisting that, according to all sound banking principles, this ought not 
to be so. I have now only to hope that you will be enabled to establish your bank- 
ing system, and thus render to your country the inappreciable advtiKtage of a cur- 
rency of universal credit based upon the best security — the stocks of the United 
States. 

"Tlie system would be permanent because it would be sustained by the State 
institutions and the strong Government of the United States. 

" I am, my dear sir, witli great respect, your friend, &c." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, May 21, 1863. 
" My Dear Sir : Accept my thanks for your kind and too affectionate letter. 
Your support at the first and from the first has been of the greatest value to me. 

" It is absolutely necessary to the success of my whole system, tliat a proper 
Funding Bill become a law. Can you not give me a visit of a few days and see some 
members of the two Houses? 

"My daughter will welcome you gladly, and we shall both try to make your 
sojourn with us not intolerable. 

" Cordially yours, «&c." 

W. J. Potter to Hon. James A. Hamilton. 

"New Bedford, Mass., June 24, 1862. 
"Dear Sir: Your letter of the 18tli inst. and the accompanying pamphlet we 
duly received, and read with pleasure and profit. The latter I have just finished 
reading a second time. It is admirable in argument and in my opinion unanswer- 
able. I am glad to have also so clear a liistorical statement of the question." 

See also the following letter to a " Gentleman" in Washington. 

James A. Hamilton to Charles Eames, Washino;tou. 

" DoBBS Ferry, June 24, 1862. 

" Dear Sir : I address this letter to you because I am sure you wiil appreciate 
.the importance of the subject it touches, and that you will appreciate the motives 
'which impel me to presume to deal with matters of sucli grave national impor- 
tance. 

"The future of our country presents more important questions for profound 
consideration than have heretofore commanded the attention of the statesmen of 
any other country, and of more difficult solution, because the history of the world 



REMINISCENCES OF JA.MES A. HAMILTON. 5lU 

gives no analogy to them, and consequently experionco afTnids no guu!o to n right 
decision. 

" First. The question of the abolition of shivery involves a radical cliaiipo in the 
social condition of millions of the white, and of a like number of tlie blnck ra.-v. 
both inhabiting the same region and botli mutually dependent. Ist. Congrem has 
or will pass Confiscation and Emancipation Acts. These affect the property, ruiil and 
personal, of the first, and the freedom of the last race. 2J. Tlie a<lvai.co of our 
armies has freed thousands of the latter, and in the course of the war will com- 
pletely unsettle the relations of the hitter to the former. 3d. Freedom or insurrec- 
tion will be the alternatives of those who are not made free by the ndviinco of the 
armies of the United State,-!. 4th. A Bankrupt Act to collect tlie debts, and the 
collodion of the direct and other taxes in the Southern country, desolated as it is, 
will necessarily lead to the sale of the estates upon which the black race are ni»w 
employed, and may bring into the Southern country a new race of owners. 6th. 
When the slaves are freed what is to become of them ? Colonization is one answer. 
It cannot be coercive, laor is it wise to take from the country two millions or more 
of eflicient laborers accustomed to the peculiar cultivation and to the climate of that 
country. 

" Second. The commerce of the country must be in some directions, for a limited 
time, fostered by the Government. 1st. It is a fact that the commerce along the 
eastern coast of South America is almost absorbed by Great Britain ; whereas in- 
asmuch as it may be said to be a coastwise trade for us, we ought to monojiolize it. 
The bare fact that the vessels of Great Britain are to pass a distance of 3,000 mile3 
on the outward voyage before they arrive at the scene of action, and to pass the janie 
distance on the return voya-e, whereas we are to begin the work almost as soon 
as we take our departure from our coast— gives rise to the question, with^uch advan- 
tages on our part in the race, how have we been cut off from that valualde tr.ide ? 
Answer, by the subsidies of Government, which ought to be counteracted, be they 
what they may. 2d. The trade of the Pacific deserves our attention. When the 
Pacific Railroad shall be finished, we may successfully compete with all the world 
for the China and Japan trade. 

" I do not go into details, but I do indulge a confident belief that under a proper 
system, Europe will receive at our Atlantic ports the rich products of those cun- 

ti 1* 1 63 

'^ Third. A system of internal improvements, wisely devised and graduail.v 

ed, will not only vastly increase the internal commerce of the coimtry, hut v. 

the various exterior regions to the centre. _ 

-Fourth. The financial system of the country presents considerations of the 
most interesting character, whether for weal or for woe, according to il: 
which may be established and determinately pursue.!. A debt ot ei.Jit lu:. ... • 
two thousand millions requires taxation to provide for the payment of the intcr..^ 
and ultimately to extinguish the principal. This debt at C per cent, for in or«t and 
1 per cent, as a sinking fund, may be extinguished in thirty years and « i 
quire a revenue over and above the expenses of the Government of one .ui.. 
fifcy millions of dollars. The annual expenses of the Go^x;^n,.K.:.t mav I. « 
aaer the war at not less tlian one hundred nnJUons -"=; ;;;^ ;^ ^^^ J;;^.^^ 

and fifty millions. The Customs revenues vmII ho .. ha^t on _ ^^ ^^^ 

millions, leaving one hundred millions to ho raided by .ntcrn.,i 



520 KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

may be an extravagant estimate. If good sense, guided by experience, governs 
our policy, this debt -will not be an unmitigated evil. 

" Tlie debt of England is five times tlie amount of ours. The payment of tlie 
interest at 3 per cent, of that debt, V7ith the expenses of its management, calls for 
29 to 30 millions of sterling pounds, or 150 millions of dollars. One-lialf of this 
debt is absorbed by the investments in trust funds, made voluntarily or by order of 
the courts, and it is thus measurably withdrawn from the market. The other half 
being at near par, forms a part of the capital of the country, as will every public 
debt so secured as to command public confidence. Thus our public debt will in- 
crease tlie amount of our capital, now so inadequate to our field of enterprise. 

" Fifth. The currency of the country necessarily belongs to this question. Should 
the Government boldly assume the exclusive power in relation thereto conferred 
upon Congress by the Constitution (see Mr. Madison's Messages of 1815 and 1816), 
should the existing Legislature interpose to defeat these rights, duties, and responsi- 
bilities, what practicable remedy would there be? Appeals to the Supreme Court 
of the United States would be dilatory, expensive, and not in all cases, particularly 
in the case of the freedmen, practicable. "What other or better remedy is there, 
than that Congress should assume, as it is believed they may properly do, that 
by treason the State Goyernments are dissolved, and to establish territorial Govern- 
ments of the first class, that is, to appoint a governor, secretary, marshal, and 
several judges ; the latter to form a Legislative council. In this way, there would 
be a civil|Government with an Executive, a Legislature, and a Judicial Department. 
It might be necessary to sustain this Government by a military force. Should the 
people find that they were thus subjected to a Government of plenary powers to 
which they were compelled to submit, it is believed they would come to their senses 
and seek to return to their condition of a State of the Union. Congress would thus 
pass an Act authorizing them to form a Constitution, with proper provisions, &c. 

" The course to be pursued by the Federal Government in relation to the people 
of the Gulf States, should they, after the exertion of military force is unnecessary, 
continue obstinately to resist by their civil authorities and otherwise submission to 
the laws of the United States, deserves grave consideration. 

" First, Taxes are to be gathered. Second, Property, real and personal, is to be 
sold in tlie event of non-payment. Tliird, Vast sums of money ai-e due in these 
States to Northern citizens. Fourth, These citizens, under the Constitution of the 
United States, are entitled to the same rights in South Carolina that a citizen inhabit- 
ing that State has. They have a right to the protection of the United States in tlie 
exercise of these rights, and particularly in the collection of their debts. Fifth, 
The negroes are to be protected in their freedom. The purchasers of the estates of 
traitors, under the Confiscation laws, are to be secured in their purchases." 

James A. Hamilton to a Gentleman in Washington, D. C. 

"July 1, 1862. 

"Dear Sir : I have prepared and now submit to you the inclosed ' suggestions' 
for your consideration, in order that if you think well of them and of the plan I now 
propose in relation thereto; you may put them into such hands as will probably take 
an interest in the subject. 

" It appears to me, however competent they may be, that the members of the 



HEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 521 

executive Government are necessarily so mnch engaged with tlic import nl 

business cf tlieir respeciive departments, and with ihe adniiui-trution ^'<.i.. , ■ ., ii.at 
they are unable to give their attention to that great future of our country to wliich 
I have referred ; and con-equently tiiat it is a necessity tliat a few of otir iiio-t ma- 
tured statesmen, who after the adjournment of Congress will have lo'- 

now meet, and confer together as to tlie great question of public jjolicy .. ;. , .,, 

require to be settled ; and that each mny take a subject for his deliberate considera- 
tion, and thus upon their retui-n to their duties be prepared to treat such qncsUons 
with confidence, and in such a manner as will load to such a defiuito end and pur- 
pose as may be most proper and most expedient. 

" It is unnecessary for me to say more. I commend the whole subject to yonr 
discretion. 

" Suggestions, &c., for the consideration of those who are much wiser than Lo 
who makes them." 

SUGGESTIONS. 

" The future of our country will present more important questions for p- •' '' 

consideration than have heretofore commanded the attention of the stall 
this, or perhaps any other country; and of more difficult solution, because history 
gives no condition of aftairs analogous to many of them, and consequently cs|»cri- 
ence aftords no guide to a decision. 

" i^«'6'i5.— Slavery ; its treatment, and the consequences whirli must follow eman- 
cipation. 

" I. It may be assumed that the freedom of four millions of the blacks is tho 
' inevitable result (as it ought to be) of this rebellion. 

" The Act of August 6th, 1861, ' to confiscate property used for insurrectionary 
purposes,' will free vast numbers in all parts of the rebellious States, which have 
been or may be exposed to the approach of our armies. The Emancipation Act to bo 
passed at the present Session will necessarily free many more ; indeed it may be 
said that the number which the two acts do not reach will be very few. 

" II. The Confiscation Act will expose for sale the real estate of a very Inrpo 
number of slave-holders. 

"III. The tax laws, and a bankrupt bill (should one bo passed), will hnng to 
the hammer many of the estates of the same class of persons. 

"IV. The march of our armies into the regions of slavery will, as it hn<. done, 

free vast numbers. 

" V Those who are freed by these processes will bo so numerous and »o tar ox- 

tended over the region of slavery as, from natural and inevitable causes to pr "• 

to the residue of slave-liolders the choice between insnrro.t n.n or the volnntar; . 

dom of their slaves. 

" VL The consequences of the emancipation of tho slaves, and tlio civ 
of the estates of their masters, involves a radical cliango in tho for- ■ 
of millions of the white, and a like number of tho black r:.-. h-tli ' 
same region and mutually dependent. 

" VIT. This consequence presents a variety of questions ot tiio in 
and diffi-^.ult character. 1st. ^Vhen the slaves are freed, whMt is to . 
Colonization is one answer. This cannot be coercive ; it w.H no. ,• 



5:32 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

would it be wise to remove millions of efficient laborers, accustomed to tlie peculiar 
cultivatioa and to the climate of the country they inhabit. 

" 2d. Should the black race remain, which I assume will be the fact, will they 
trust and be willing to work for their old masters; and if they should be, by what 
course of legislation can their freedom be secured? These, it is assumed, will be 
some of tlie points to be considered ; various others of equal or greater difficulty 
will be suggested to those better acquainted with the subject. Should the estates of 
the slave-holders, now traitors, be sold and purchased by men of the North, some of 
the difficulties would be removed. 

" 3d. The poor whites in the Southern regions are to be cared for ; could they 
be educated, and thus be raised by profitable labor to the condition of independent 
and industrious citizens, it would eftect a change of great value, and one which would 
assist in the solution of other difficulties. 

'■'■Second; Tlie Commerce of the Country .—ls,t. It is a fact that the commerce of 
Mexico, and all along the eastern and western coast of South America is nearly ab- 
sorbed by Great Britain, notwithstanding that our proximity gives us decided advan- 
tages. In the first place, to us it is measurably a coastwise trade (always tlie most 
profitable). The vessels of Great Britain have to incur the expense of a voyage of 
3,000 miles in the outward before they begin the race with us, and the like expense on 
tlie return voyage ; other things beinS equal, this ought to be decisive against her. 
It is believed that her merchants owe their success to the fostering aid of their Gov- 
ernment. 

" The evils now occurring in Mexico admonish us that it is interest as well as 
security to draw closer, by all means in our power, our commercial and political 
relations with South America than they now are. 

" 2d. Our trade with Cuba might be much improved ; indeed, it ought to be 
as essentially ours as if the island were annexed. 

" 3d. Tlie trade of the Pacific deserves attention. When the Pacific Railroad is 
finished, which, by proper exertions, can be done in less than five years, we may suc- 
cessfully compete with every other nation for the trade to China and Japan. I 
cannot go into the details, but I indulge in the hope that the time will come, w'hen, 
under a system of enlightened policy, the nations of Europe will receive the rich 
products of the East at our Atlantic ports. The voyage from Liverpool to Canton 
will average 130 days ; from New York to the same place by railroad and the 
Pacific, will be 34 days at most; from San Francisco we can use steam, the voyage 
by the ordinary routes can be made by sailing ships alone. 

" The Financial Systein of the Country. — 1st. The public debt. A solid and per- 
manent funding system to secure the payment cf the interest and extinguish the 
principal. Tliis is to be done by constituting a fund sufficient in every possible 
event for extinguishing the debt in a period not exceeding 30 years. 

" Note. — A fund which yields 6 per cent, for interest (or whatever other per 
centum the interest may be), and one per centum additional properly applied, will 
extinguish the whole debt in that period. 

"2d. By 'fixing the destination of this unchangeably:' not only by appro- 
priating it permanently under the direction of commissioners, and vesting it in 
them as property in trust, but by making its faithful application a part of the con- 
tract with the creditors. See the Reports of the first Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, of January 9th, 1790, and January 20Lh, 1795, 3d Vol. Hamilton. 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. llAMlLTuN. 523 

"Sliould the debt of tlie country amount to four tliou^nnil miUion.H ofdulltr'. 
and the regular payment of its interest, and the eventual i)ayiiicnt of tliu priiicl- 
pal within the period mentioned be secured beyond all pcradventnrc, tli« stix-k 
representing it would always be at or above par ; and tlnis it would, by bwotuin^j a 
part of the capital of the country, cease to be an umnitigated evil ; in truth, it 
would assist to swell the volume of capital to an extent which wnuld be compe- 
tent to meet, in a great measure, the demands of tlie vast field which is opened to 
the enterprise and industry of our countrymen. 

*' The Currency of the Country. — Should Congress boldly assume the cxcbiBive 
power conferred upon it by the Constitution in relation to tho currency (see Mr, 
Madison's Messages, 1815 and 1816), they will confer upon the people (and jiarticu- 
larly that portion least capable of taking care of tijemselve-) t!ie inappreciable ad- 
vantage of having notes in circulation of equal value throughout our va-t republic. 
The absorption, at this moment, by the western people, of the legnl tender notes to 
so vast an amount as to place them above par, gives earnest of what a proper system 
would secure. 

" The Armament of the Country ly Land and Tr'a/^?-.— Recent events have given 
vast proportions to this subject; our ownaruiyasa peace establishment must be 
much extended. 

"The disloyalty of the people of the South, in any possible termination of the 
existing contest, will require a complete armament of all the forts in tiio liarbor?, 
and probably of permanent fortresses on various parts of their interior. 

" The navy will also require to be increased, and kept in a condition of ^rrcat 

efficiency. 

" During the existence of the present generation, there will be a disloyal clement 
in our midst, ready at any moment to take part with a foreign enemy against their 

Government. 

The Foreign Policy of our Country .—Thct affairs in Mexico foreshadow conse- 
quences which may eventually force us into a foreign war. 

" It may be said that the relations of the Federal Government to the people of 
the United States will hereafter be essentially different from what they were. 

" That Government has been known to them as a shield and by the glory of its 
flao-. It is hereafter to be known by the tax-gatherer, a most necessary but unwel- 
come visitor ; a wise course of policy in regard to commerce by mternal nnprovc- 
ments, and to the currency, mny tend to bring it home to the people m a moro 
useful and beneficent character." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Tre...ury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Feruy V. O.. July lo. 18C'.'. 

"Deak Sik:- It has occurred to me that if the President -^^^-^l^^^. 
for volunteers in the manner following, it would rece.vo ^^ .^ ..J^,,, 
^50,000 men to reduce Texas to -1'--^- the s.ne Pjy - /-'^i:, .H.i 
with 160 acres of land to those who will settle ho.e /^ V^' ' ;^^,,,,. •„ ;„ o.c 
men would more readily enlist for such a specific ^^'J^ '' / ^^^ ^ „, ,i,, „.« 
service for three years or an indefinite period. Iho resuluo o. the 
men now in the field, will be adequate to all ulterior purpose.. 



524 reminiscejVces of james a. Hamilton. 

" It may be important to send an army to Texas without delay in reference to 
the attack of the Emperor upon Mexico. There is too much reason to believe that 
liis ulterior purpose i-s to intervene in order to tstahlisli the great Southern Empire, 
or to secure provinces to France. 

" Texas is as large as France. By soil nnd climate it is adapted to the culture, by 
free labor, of cotton, sugar, tobacco, the cereals, and domestic animals of all kinds. By 
this plan, a free State could be formed there. I am informed there were only 123,- 
000 slaves in the whole country in 1861, of whom 20,000 have gone off. 

"I have sug2re>ted this plan of obtaining men to three very intelligent gentle- 
men, who all urged me to bring it to the President's attention. Will you do me the 
favor to do so. I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your friend, &c." 

C. B. Sedgwick to James A. Hamilton, Esq. 

"Washixgton, JulylS, 1SG2. 

"My Dear Sir: lam under great obligations and thank you heartily fa* the 
information given in your note of the 12th instant. I am very glad to find that upon 
the subject of arming the negroes I am supported by an authority of such weight 
as your father. 

" The time is in fact coming when the propriety and safety of this measure will 
be almost universally conceded, and will be resorted to by our Government. 

Hon. S. p. Chase to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, D. C, July 15, 18G2. 

" My Dear Sir : Tour excellent note is ju?t received, I will send it to the Presi- 
dent, and shall be glad if he will read and heed it. 

" I have seen little of him for some time past ; Avhen he thinks fit to ask my 
counsel or to impart his own, I attend his summons. 

" Otherwise I confine myself to ray special work. What I think ought to be 
done is so generally left undone, and what I think ought not to be done so generally 
done, that I am led to doubt greatly the value of my views on any subject. 

"Your friend." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon, William Vandeter, House of Represeutatives, 
• Washington. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. O., July 16, 1862. 

" Sir : I thank you for the copy of the bill reported by Mr. Harlan of the Senate, 
No. 132. After reading that bill a second time with care, I take the liberty to 
suggest after the word 'until' on the tenth line section 1st, page 2d, the following 
words be inserted after the words 'until the rebellious people of said district shall 
be reduced to a due subordination to the laws of the United States,' and I would 
also add to section 10 the following: 'the navigable waters running through said 
districts or on the borders of either of tlieni shall be and continue highways and 
forever free to the people of said districts, and to the citizens of the United States 
without any tax, toll, duty, or assessment whatever." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 525 

"lam gtill of opinion that it would be expedient to limit tho bill to tli. ' • ■ 
formed out of territory which once belonged to ibe United States to wit: I 
Alabama, Mi:^sissippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The argunu-nl U lo 
conclusive as to these States that there would be a much greater po-vsibiruy of pa*** 
ing such a I'ill ; embracing the old States would excite that absurd ] r ' •, of 
State rights and State sovereignt3', which was nurtured in the early ] our 

government for party purposes, into almost a reality; and until it exerted buc1» a 
political influence as to justify iu the minds of so many of our fellow-citizens tlio 
right of secession. 

" I would also give the people of those States a day of repentance. Tliis would, 
when they begin to feel that their atfairs are disastrous (which thoy will shortly) 
induce the Union men and the less truculent of rebels to rise up and cast out their 
devils. It might induce some to vote for the bill who would not other wiijo do 8<». 

" Another law could afterward be passed to deal in the same way with ot!i»T 
rebellious States, should they obstinately stand out — as I have no doubt tbo pco; ic 
of South Carolina will — for years, if not during the present generation. 

" I have the honor to be, 

" Your obedient servant, «S:c." 

Jajies a. Hamilton to Abraham Lincolx, President of the United Slates, 

Washington, D. C. 

"Donus Feuhy P. 0., July 24, 1862. 
"Dear Sir : I perform a public duty in addressing this letter to you ; and let roc 
add that if the frank aud earnest expression of my oiuiiions at this cri^id of our 
country is distasteful to you, I do not correctly appreciate your character. 

" The people of the loyal States have through all the accustomed channel* 
expressed their most unequivocal conviction that the war nnist be conducted witli 
a vigor and sternness which has no other limit than that which may be deinan.'.ed 
by the laws of war ; that all the rights of property of rrbvl< nf .v. rv llnd, i-l.ivc* 
inchided, shall be destroyed. 

" The question as they now understand it is, whether the Government tlicy 
have ordained and established, and their rights as citizens of the United S 
to be preserved, or whether the assumed rights of those in rebellion a^. • 

Government are to be destroyed. This is the issue, as they believe, in tl.: 
ble war, and further they call upon you in whom they now have full conlidcnco lo 
use all the means at your command, and all further means wliidi tlu-y »rv 1 

to give you, without delay to crush out this foul attempt at the life of t... 

and to issue a proclamation declaring that you will do so. 

"I implore you as a duty to yourself, to your country, and to your CmhI, iiih 
ately to issue such a proclamation, and at the same time to call into scrvi. 
serve force to be placed in camps of instruction, half a million of men m : 
those you have already called for. This course will assure the K-val u: ■ 
the confidence of the traitors as to their ultimate success. 
" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

"Your friend aud obedient scrvina. 



526 REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

CIRCULAR TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE LOYAL STATES. 

James A. Hamilton to His Excellency E. D. Morgan, Governor of 

the State of New York. 

"DoBBS Feeky, August 4, 1862. 

" Sir : Prompted by an earnest desire to promote the public welfare in this crisis 
of our country, without having the honor of your personal acquaintance, I take 
the liberty to address this note to you. 

" It is well understood that, a day or two afcer the adjournment of Congress, such 
a proclamation as they believed the President ought to issue was prepared and pre- 
sented to him by several members of Congress and other gentlemen — that the Pres- 
ident approved of the policy thereby indicated, and declared that, with slight modi- 
fications, he would issue it. Unhappily for the country, this purpose was frustrated 
by two members of his cabinet. 

" It is believed in the city of New York and elsewhere, that if the Governors of 
the loyal States, and other representative men from various parts of the country 
would meet at "Washington at an early day, and frankly present to the President 
their views, urging him to issue a proclamation, declaring it to be his purpose to 
prosecute the war with relentless sternness, only limited by the military law, and that 
the late Confiscation and Emancipation Acts of Congress should be carried out to the 
very letter, that he would follow such advice ; when Congress indicates by law aline 
of policy, or a course of conduct to be carried out, it may be said with confidence 
that the President and his cabinet are as much bound to obey such laws as is any 
other man in the nation. 

"I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Yuur Excellency's obedient servant." 

C. B. Sedgwick to James A. Hamilton. 

" Sybacuse, N. Y., August 7, 1862. 

"My Dear Sir: I have been engaged all the time since my return in raising 
volunteers, speaking every night, and late at night. 

" "\Ye shall fill our Reginient promi)tly and truly with men who believe in it. 

"I look on your proposition for a committee as a good one; to save time, as I 
have delayed so long, if you will advise me when you will be in Washington, I will 
look about me and find suitable men, have them meet you there, and will give them 
letters to you. 

" The country is aroused, and full of enthusiasm, 

" I am very truly your friend." 

Letter to James A. Hamilton from a very Distinguished Gentlemen. 

"August 18, 1862. 

"My Dear Sir: I was absent from home when your note arrived, and beg to 
express my regret for this dchxy in its acknowlelgment. 

" I was not one of the committee who liad tlie interview with the President in 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 527 

regard to the Emancipation act; butfrom conversations I lia«l wiili p.-titloinon \%lio 
were present I learned that there seemed little prospect of Lis enfureiti" Iho u.'t ..f 
Congress for the present. 

" Of the wisdom, necessity, and duty of a proclamation from tlie Exccutivo, nn- 
nouncing to the army, the enemy, and the slave the new ))(>licy of Con;;rt.«w, 1 liavo 
no doubt, and I regret to know tliat wo are indebted for tlio hesitanry oftln; Trcsi- 
dent, iu great part, to influential politicians from this State, wliose former nnti-blavcry 
professions tend to give undue weight to their present assurances to the PrcMilent, 
that if he obeys the act of Congress in regard to Emancipation, tlio country will bo 
forever ruined. 

" The emancipation policy is now demanded by Francis B. Cutting, Esq., Matthew 
Morgan, and other gentlemen of the old pro-slavery democratic party, demanded ns 
a military necessity, as the only possible mode of dispersing tlie army of .Icff. Davis, 
and crushing the rebellion speedily without sacrificing, in a prolonged struggle, the 
blood, and treasure, and energies of the nation. 

"And I am told that the President would have listened favorably, — tliat lio did 
listen to Mr. Cutting's demand, that the strength now olYered to tlie rebels sIiduM 
be immediately transferred to the army of the Union, and that there was re:ison to 
suppose he would take instant steps to that end, when the influence of Mr. Wood 
turned him again, and left us to continue our present suicidal policy. 

"As far as I can learn, this course has been pursued as i)art of a plan to a coa- 
lition in this State, between the Conservative Republicans and the Secession syrapa- 
tliizing Democrats, by which they hope to control New York at the coming election." 

The following papers referring to the measures directed by the Governor of 
New York to be taken in order to enlist or draft the quota of soldiers rciuircd 
to be furnished by the 8th Senatorial district of the State of New York, and 
particularly Westchester, were prepared by James A. Hamilton. 

" TO THE SUPEKYISORS, ASSESSORS, MAGISTRATES, AND OTIIK il OFFI- 
CERS CIVIL AND MILITARY, AND ALL OTHER LOYAL CITIZENS 
OF THE SECOND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT OF THE COUNTY OF WEST- 
CHESTER." 

" The subscribers have been required by the military committee of the 8tli Sena- 
torial district forthwith to ascertain the number of inhabitants of the towns of 
Greenbnr<x, Mount Pleasant, North Castle, Ponndridge, Rye, Iarr..on, \U.to 
Plains, Scarsdale, Mamaroneck, and New Rochelle, who have enl.stod .nor fr.>m 
snid t-nvns since the 2d day of July, 1862 ; in order to ascertam the denc.onoy of 
each town in its quota of the whole force to be raised by draft. To do tins «orlc 
properly, it will be necessary to ascertain and give at large the namo, the ^ t u 
occupati;n, and last place of residence of the person who has been «" - - « J> 
from each of said towns, with the company and regnnent m wluoh ho cnl..,..l. 

" The quota for the county of Westchester of the two last call, b^ t h I ■ 
is 3076 men. The enlistments on the 25th inst., according t'^ I'l^';; , ^n ' dia ..ot 
tary commander, for the regiment fron. ^Westchester, i:ockwwar.n..m. chO^ 
exceed (800) eight hundred n.en. In order to ascertam the number to b« d 1 



528 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

from eacli town, the towns will be charged with their quota of S076 men, and 
credited witli the wlmle number enlisted in such town, or who have gone from such 
town to be enlisted elsewhere subsequent to tbe 2d of July last. 

" It becomes the duty of all good citizens not only promptly and truly to give 
to the enrolling officers of each town the names of persons liable to be drafted, 
but also to inform those officers and the subscribers of the names, &c., of all persons 
who have enlisted, that each town may truly give to the public service all the 
men wlio are to be called by draft and no more. 

" Fellow-citizens, the traitors Avho have been for years maturing their plans for 
this rebellion against tbe most beneficial government in the world are now pushing 
on va-t armies raised by the most relentless conscription to invade the border slave 
and the free States. It becomes you, therefore, to decide whether it is a less evil 
to meet these armies on their own soil, and by overwhelming powers to destroy 
them, or to meet them at your own doors. 

" The glorious enthusiasm of the freemen of the North, their loyalty, energy and 
intelligence do not permit a doubt as to their decision in this eventful crisis. We 
will rise as one man with God for our strength, and crush the barbarous hordes 
figliting to establish an aristocracy founded upon slavery, and will thus vindicate 
the Constitution and the Union, and the great principle upon whicli all our political 
systems are founded: Popular Government and the Freedom of all manlcind. 

" James A. Hamilton, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., 
"A. J. PniME, White Plains P. O. 

James A. Hamilton to A. J. Prime^ M.D., "VYhite Plains, N. Y. 

" Dobbs Ferry P. 0., August 28, 1862. 

"Dear Sir: When I had the pleasure to meet you, referring to the poster I had 
prepared addressed to the supervisors of our County, and to which, with your per- 
mission, I added your signature to my own, you told me that your democratic 
friends laujihed at you for having sanctioned the expression, ' We will vindicate 
the Constitution, the Union, and the great principles upon which our political 
system is founded — ^Popular Government and the Freedom of all mankind.' 

" It is due to myself to say when I wrote that paper, I knew nothing about your 
party associations. I am certainly incapable of causing any man unwittingly to 
express oi)inions at variance with those he entertains upon any subject, or to 
seem to do so ; further allow me to say Avhen your Democratic friends laugh at 
you for saying, ' The Country, the Union, and the great principles on which our 
political system is founded — Pojiular Government and the Freedom of all mankind,' 
they do you and their party and themselves great injustice, or are grossly ignorant 
of the principles upon which our Constitution and our political systems are founded. 

" Without going into an argument to sustain this, or appealing to most num- 
erous and the highest authorities of distinguished Democrats and others on the sub- 
ject, I give you one which ought to be decisive. Mr. Madison, speaking of the Con- 
stituti in, called it the great Charter of Human Liberty. 

"AVhcn the Constitution was formed, all those who participated in that great 
work believed negro slavery a wrong and an evil, and that it would soon be destroyed. 

"The cultivation of cotton which commenced about 1792, and the purchase of 
Louisiana induced the South to desire its indefinite extension as a means of political 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 529 

power ; and of wealth, and now fearing to lose the former, they abjure i>on„l«r 
governments and strike at the national life. 

" "With the earnest hope that we agree in those views 

"I am with respect, &c., 

'• Your obedient servant.'' 



c 



The following statement of my interviews witli President Lincoln on ih, 
lOth and 11th September, 1862, was noted down immediately after tboy wltc 
closed. — J. A. H. 

STATEMENT. 

INTEEVIEWS WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN, SEPTEMBER IOtiI AND IItH, l«f.2, 

Of Jolin E, Williams, McKnight, Mr. Stevens, and James A. Hamilton, a 
committee on behalf of the War Committee of New York to present to the 
President of the United States a report of that Committee on the conduct of 
the war. 

The Committee visited the President by appointment on the 10th Septem- 
ber, 1862, the gentlemen were introduced by Hamilton. The report wa-<» read 
to the President and commented upon by Mr. Williams, who cxpre.^^scd his 
opinions, in which the Committee concurred, as to the unsatisfactory conduct of 
the war, and particularly of the appointment of General McClellan to the com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac. The opinions of Mr. William?, expressed 
with proper respect for the President, and with becoming frankness and decision, 
were combated by the President, until their conversation became a sharp 
encounter, and not a little excitement was manifested by both partic?, Mr. 
Williams, in closing what he had to say, informed the President that his friend, 
Mr. Hamilton, desired to have an opportunity to express his views in relation to 
a part of the report. 

Mr. Hamilton suggested to the President that perhaps it would be best to 
defer what he had to say to a future interview, when there would be loss 
excitement than at this moment. The President rejected this sug{,'C.-tion, and 
Mr. Hamilton proceeded : In the report it was stated that, in the oj.inion of 
some of the Governors of loyal States, the public mind was dcsponditig, and 
dissatisfied with the Administration in consequence of the reverses to which 
our armies had been subjected. Confirming that opinion of the Governors, 
he desired to suggest to the President that the depression and di.«*?ati>fa.'tion 
could be alleviated or removed in one or both of two courses^. First, Uy a 
change of his Cabinet ; Second, By a Proclamation declaring that the ^^ .r .!. mid 
be prosecuted with the utmost vigor, and that the laws of I'ongrcss, . .:ig 

the property and freeing the slaves of the rebels, should bo cnforcvJ by the 

armies. 

Mr. Hamilton would now take up the first point. 

By referring to Mr. Seward's letters to our Foreign Ministers. anJ partL 
cularly to Mr. Adams, it was manifested that his policy was not f.. ^n.-- w,r 
31 



530 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

against the rebels witli vigor, but in such a way as to be accompanied with as 
little suffering as possible to them. Indeed, Mr. Seward had in one of his 
letters informed Mr. Adams that " the President had adopted as true the 
favorite dogma of the Secessionists, that this Government had not power to 
subdue the people of a State in insurrection by force of arms." As soon as 
this statement was made, the President, in an excited manner, said, " Sir ! you 
are subjecting some letter of Mr. Seward's to an undue criticism in an undue 
manner," and then pointing first to Mr. Hamilton, and then to Mr. Williams, 
he said, " You, gentlemen, to hang Mr. Seward, would destroy this Govern- 
ment." Mr. Hamilton said, " Sir, that is a very harsh remark. It does not 
excite me, however, because I consider it an inadvertence on your part, and 
because you do not know me, or the feelings under which I am endeavoring to 
perform my duty ; I am actuated, in all this, by no feelings for or against Mr. 
Seward or any other man. I came here for no man, nor with ill feelings against 
any man. I look only to the country, and in this I am moved by the same 
interests and feelings which excite your solicitude, Mr. President, to preserve 
the Union, the solicitude of this gentleman (pointing to Mr. Williams), and 
the solicitude of the loyal men of the country. And allow me to say, I am 
moved, much moved by a solicitude which cannot move you. My father, sir, 
was one of the architects of this government, and he was one of those who gave 
it its first impetus. Should our system of government now fail under its pres- 
ent pressure, his reputation would suffer. Mankind would insist that he and 
his colaborers had undertaken to perform a work which they were not equal 
to. These considerations and these alone actuate me to express the opinions 
I was about to express. And now, Mr. President, let me again suggest that at 
another interview we may discuss these subjects with all the calmness their 
importance demands, and which is certainly most desirable to all." The Presi- 
dent said, *' Very well, — can you be here to-morrow at 9 o'clock ? " I said, 
" Certainly— at any hour most agreeable to you." The President, " Very 
well; to-morrow at 9 o'clock, if I am permitted to he here.'''' (This if was 
founded upon a fear just then prevailing, as I afterward learned, that on the 
jDrevious Saturday, Sunday, and Monday it was believed that Washington 
mio-ht be taken at any moment.) The President's conversation with Mr. 
Barney, as it was related by the latter to me on the 22d September, explained 

this. 

The Committee took leave. The manner of the President was perfectly 

respectful ; indeed, it was kind. 

September 11th. — I called at the Executive Mansion at a few minutes after 
nine o'clock, and was told Mr. Seward was with the President. I waited about 
lialf an hour until he went his way, and was admitted. After the usual salu- 
tation (all in perfect good feeling), I began by saying : " I will proceed with 
the line of argument I desire to present to you, that Mr. Seward enter- 
tains opinions as to the manner of conducting this war which renders him an 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. llAMII/rON. 53] 

unsafe adviser of the President. I presume, Mr. President, sineo wc partod \ 
you have examined the letter to which I referred yesterday from Mr ^i-w . i 
to Mr. Adams?" The President replied: «' No, sir! I have not.' \\\o not 
know where to find it; I know nothing about it." Mr. Hamilton—" I have 
brought the oiScial documents with me, and will read tliat part of the letter to 
which I referred, and otlffers." I read as follows : 

" Mr. Seward, April 10, 1861, to Mr. Adams, Minister in London. ' F-.r 
these reasons, he (the President) would not be disposed to reject a cardinal 
dogma of theirs (the seceders), namely, " that the Federal Government could 
not reduce the seceding States to obedience by confjucst," even althou^di he 
were disposed to question that proposition; but, in fact, the President willingly 
accepts it as true. Only an imperial or despotic government could subjugate 
thoroughly disaiFected and insurrectionary members of a State. This Federal 
Republican system of ours is of all forms of government the very one whicli 
is most unfitted for such a labor.' 

"Also a letter from Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, June 8, ISOl. ' Thi-i 
Government insists * * *^ * ''• on the integrity of the Union as the cliief ■ ' 
of national life, since, after trials of every form of forbearance and (.-m. m..i- 
tion, it has been rendered certain and apparent that this paramount and vital 
object can be secured only by an acceptance of civil war as an indispensable con- 
dition. That condition, with all its hazards and deplorable evils, has not been 
declined. Th« acceptance, however, is attended with a strong desire and fixed 
purpose that the war shall be as short, and accompanied by as little euffcrinir. 
as possible.' " 

The President was silent. I then remarked : " Here you have a declara- 
tion that our Government has not 2^ower to do wlmt you are now attempting to do : 
that is, hij force to compel the members of the States in rebellion to come into tnh- 
mission to the laws and authority/ of the United States. And further, this is uot 
alone the opinion of Mr. Seward, lut it is alleged to he your opinion. Now. in 
frankness, permit me to ask how you, Mr. President, can justify yourself to the 
world and to a higher Power, in carrying on this gigantic war, .slied. !!»•■' - > 
much blood, when you do uot believe you can accomplish by such nu 
end pi'oposed ? " 

" Again, Mr. Seward, in his letter to Mr. Adams, charges him ''to 
admission of ivealcnesa in our Constitution.'' Mark! this was written in Apr 
and in December following he hands this letter to you to be publisli 
your message, thus declaring to our enemy your admission of your w 
and of the weakness oi ' the cords of our confedrary,' as Mr. Sewanl <• . 
Government, and he thus encourages them to continue the contest. IIo, a» li>o 
same time, by these assertions, discourages the loyal men; but, aborc all. i.o 
affords to the Powers of Europe tlie best reasons for intervention, by ukinp 
the ground that in the interests of humanity they are required to prt-v- • ' 
calamities as are iuflictcd on both parties by the continuance of » , - 



532 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

wliicli you admit you have not power, from the character of our Government, 
successfully to carry out. 

'' The gentleman who entertained these views of his Government, and could 
cause thera to be published to the world, is surely unfit to be the adviser of the 
President. 

" The other quotations from the letter are absurd in their face. To talk of a 
short war, accompanied with the purpose of making as little suffering to the 
enemy as possible, is an absurdity. These letters afford a key to the course 
General McClellan has pursued in guarding the property of rebels, of sending 
their slaves back to them, and perhaps in not following up his advantages by 
taking Richmond. Mr. Seward shows by these letters, and by his speeches, 
that he does not comprehend the magnitude of this contest, or if he does, that 
he would not advise the most effectual measures to bring that contest to a suc- 
cessful issue. If he did the first, he would not have declared that it was not 
your purpose to wage war ; or the last, he would not have expected these 
traitors to return to submission as soon as they have time to come to their 
reason. The general iinpression is, that Mr, Seward is the drag, the hold-back 
of your administration, indulging in some idle theory that the traitors will, after 
sixty or ninety days, return to their allegiance. 

" His estimate of the strength and power of our Government is a grievous 
mistake. What people could have manifested more devotion than we have? 
What Government could have exerted higher powers than you have with their 
full consent ? You have struck down, from necessity (I admit, and I applaud 
the energy you have displayed) the dearest rights of the people : the freedom 
of the press, the freedom of speech, the right of being free from arrest un- 
less under due process of law, and the imprisonment of the citizens without 
legal warrant. 

" The strength of our Government is founded upon the devotion, the loyalty, 
and the intelligence of our people. Mr. Seward greatly mistakes the character 
of our Government, and all popular Governments, when he insists that it has 
not power to preserve its own life. 

"The following, from a letter written by one of General Scott's aids, gives 
force to the suggestion that General McClellan's constrained action in the ad- 
vance upon Richmond was the result of the advice of the Secretary of State 
' to make a short war, accompanied with as little suffering as possible.' 

Headqtiaeters of the Army, ) 
"Washington, October 23, 1861. j 
Governor Seward and General McClellan are the ruling spu-its. They hold 
conferences, make plans, nnd ignore entirely the general-in-chief, ***** Anxiety, 
care, and gloom is pictured on the countenances of all in power. 

" I now proceed to the second point — a proclamation declaring that the 
laws of Congress confiscating and freeing the slaves should be enforced by the 
armies. 



REMINISCENCE? OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 533 

" The Acts of Congress making all slaves employed in aiding the rcL ' 
and forbidding their being returned to their masters, I believe U an amhu.-u> 
to you to issue a proclamation of emancipation. Indeed, there is very hi^h 
authority for saying it is your duty, under the laws referred to, to issue such a 
proclamation, because ' a law of the land, till revoked or annulled, is binding 
not less on each branch or department of the Government than on each indi'- 
vidual of the society.' " The President : " Ilepcat that, if you plea.-<e.-' I did 
so. The President : " Will you write it down for me ? " I did so, and 
stated that I quoted from a paper written by "A. Hamilton" in defence of 
Jay's treaty. I then went on to say, " Mr. Seward, in a dispatch to Mr. Day- 
ton, declared that ' the condition of slavery in the several States will remain 
the same whether the revolution succeeds or not.' Under this conviction be 
must oppose a proclamation should you propose to issue one." Tiic Prc»idcnt : • 
" Have you drawn such a proclamation ? " Answer : " No, sir." The Presi- 
dent : "Will you do so"? Answer: "I certainly will." The Prp.Mdent, 
during my remarks upon Mr. Seward's letter, said not one word. This was 
perhaps the result of a suggestion by Mr. Seward. When wo parted, he said, 
'• Mr. Hamilton, it will give me pleasure to see you whenever you come to 
Washington." 

I returned to New York, drew the following proclamation, returned to 
Washington with it on the morning of the 2od September, 18G"2, and delivered it 
to the President, who however had on that day issued his preliminary proclama- 
tion. He thanked me most heartily for the trouble I hud taken, and .said ho 
would examine it with care when he should prepare his further proclamation, 
should another be required. 

By the President or the United States of AMEnic.\. 
A PROCLAMATION. 

" Whereas, a F.ehe\]\on, of gigantic proportions, endangering tlie national life, is 
now flagrant in various States of tlie Union. 

" And whereas the Congress of the United States, in order to ntford the President 
ample means to suppress said rebellioi), have vastly increased the military and n.ival 
forces of the nation, 

* " And tchereas the Congress, in order to snpprc?s insurrection and puni.»h treason 
and rebellion, have enacted that if any person engaged in arnud rebol!i..n n?nh>: 
the Government of the United States, or any person aiding such rebdli^n.^shall not 
within sixty days after public warning and proclamation given by the ^' '• 

cease to aid such rebellion and return to his aUegiance, all the estate and p 
such person shall be liable to seizure, and it shall bo tlio duty of the IV •• 

seize and use such property or the proceeds thereof for the support of tho army vf 

the United States, ,^ __ , ^ 

"And M7i<?re«s such proclamation was issued and such warn 
the 25th day of July last, so that the term of such wari,:n:.' ha 



534 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

])le of said States disregarding such warning still continue in armed rebellion 
against the United States, and have invaded lojal States of this Union, 

" And icherens the Congress of the United States, in order to suppress insurrec- 
tion and punish treason and rebellion, did further enact that the slaves of all persons 
who shall hereafter be engaged in such rebellion, or in giving aid and comfort 
thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, 
and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the 
control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons found 
on or being within any j)lace occupied by rebel forces, and afterward occupied by 
forces of the United States, shall be forever free, and further that all slaves who shall 
be required or permitted by persons claiming their service or labor to take up arms or 
to work in any military or naval service against the Government of the United 
States, shall be free. And further, that the President is authorized to employ as 
many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary and proper for the sup- 
pression of this rebellion, and for this purpose he may organize and use them in such 
manner as he may judge best for the public welfare : and further, that when any 
man of African descent who, by the laws of any State, shall owe service or labor to 
any person who, during the present rebellion, has levied war against the United 
States or given aid or comfort to their enemies, shall render any camp or military 
or naval service to the United States, he shall forever thereafter be free. 

"And whereas^ all persons, inhabitants of any State or Territory, born within the 
jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United States excepting those who owe alle- 
giance to a foreign State or potentate, and not excepting such persons as may be 
held to service or labor in any State by the laws thereof, are subject to the laws of 
the United States, and owe full faith and allegiance to the Government of the United 
States, and all such persons not above excepted being inhabitants of the United States, 
when called upon by the Government are absolutely bound to render any and 
every military service to the United States. 

"And ^cJiereas, under every Constitutional Government the highest guarantee of 
civil liberty is found in the fundamental principle that every Department of the 
Government and every officer thereof in his official capacity is as much bound by 
the Constitution and the laws of the land as the humblest individual, and more espe- 
cially is this so under the Government of the United States, founded on the sove- 
reignty of the people — the President being imperatively commanded by the Consti- 
tution 'to take care that the laws are faithfully executed; ' and every other civil 
or military officer of the United States being under a Constitutional obligation to 
observe and obey the injunctions of the laws and to give full and complete effect 
thereto, 

" And whereas because of this rebellion the execution of the laws of the United 
States has been for more tlian a year past and still is obstructed and defeated through- 
out the rebellious Sta'es, 

"And «c7ie?'e«s such rebellion is confined to those States wherein human beings 
are held in slavery, and is based upon the assumption that the security and perpetua- 
tion of slavery require the disruption of our national unity and our existence as a 
nation, 

" And ichereas the persons so held in slavery contribute greatly while so enslaved 
to the aid and comfort of the rebels, by their labor on fortifications, and for the sup- 
jdy of their commissariat, and thus giving strength and support to their arms. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON 53.', 

"And whereas in this contest, involving as it does the imtionnl cxi-t. 
absolnte duty of the Government to avail itself of tlie utmost power c : 
tarj, and to employ every means not forbidden by tlio laws of nature, nn<l I.) • 
nsages of civilized -warfare, placed within its reacli, in order to brin,:,' «o a %\»- : 
end the existing protracted and desolating cruel war, 

" And zchereas among the means at its disposal the PreMdent may, in strjot im?- 
cordance with the Constitution, take for public use, when urgent i)ublic ncr^-irc Jc- 
mands it, private property of every kind, making just compensation thercf.-r. 

"And w/«6'?-eas, as clearly appears by these recitals, that to hold and ti- ' m 

beings as property, always morally wrong, is found to be an element in our , ..: 

system eminently dangerous to the supremacy of the law, the peace of the cDnntry, 
and the existence of the Government, 

And whereas in obedience to the universal law of self-preservation, .it i-i th<> im- 
perative duty of the Government to take, use, or destroy jiri vate property, tlie lives of 
individuals, and to subvert the institutions and laws of any Srate in rebellion when- 
ever it shall be clearly necessary to do so in order to protect and defend the Ci>nflti- 
tution and pi-eserve the life of the nation, 

" Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, as President of the United State*, in fulfil- 
ment of the solemn obligations and responsibilities imposed upon me by the Consti- 
tution and laws, and assumed by me in taking the oath of office ; and under the 
profound conviction that so only can I save the country from disruption, and the 
overthrow of popular institutions, do issue this my Proclamation, dechiring licit, as 
a necessity of war and as essential to the salvation of the Pvcpublic, the condition of 
slavery is hereby forever abolished throughout the United States, and every one of 
them, commanding all officers, civil and military, to execute the laws of the land. 
and to give full effect to this J/y Proclamation o/Lihcrti/ throughout the 1"- ' ' ■ •'? 
inhabitants thereof. And I do exhort all good and loyal citizens to pive d 

render obedience to this proclamation, hereby pledging the faith of the c;nvcm- 
ment to all those among them who may be divested of property thereby, that every 
slave-holder who has hitherto been, and shall continue to be, loyal to the V' ■ -'! 
the Government of the United States, shall receive just compensation fri>ii 
ernment for his loss of property, as all good and loyal citizens are at all times enti- 
tled by the Constitution of the United States to be remunerated for any lo--9 of pro- 
perty, which may be taken or destroyed by authority for public use, to avert a proat 
calamity, or to preserve the national life. 

"And I hereby call upon each able-bodied male person whom the acta ..f ■ 
gress or this Proclamation shall have declared and made free, to rei)ort hinm-lf to 
the nearest military post of the Union armies for direction as to the service !.-> m^.r 
be required to render to the Government, to which he owes his lr.e.Iom. Ar^.l I 
hereby order and require every officer, civil or military, or other person .n the 
vice of the United States, to treat each person so reporting himself with kuul 
and humanity, and strictly to respect in all things the rights to wluch. n. a frcvmar. 
the action of the Government has entitled him. ^ 

" And now, hun.bly looking to the Almighty God for blessing on tl.w »rr, a. wll 
of long delayed justice to an unoflFending and oppressed race m our n. 
necessary self-defence on the part of the nation, I again call >■ 
whether in the States now in rebellion, or in those which I...- .•• 
loyalty, to aid in giving full effect to this Pr.Mln,nati..n. .-uul to unite w 






536 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

most vigorous efforte, promptly to overcome this rebellion and thus to restore our 
afflicted country to the blessings of peace, order, and lasting prosperity." 

James A. Hamilton to Dk. 0. A. Brownson. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Feret P, 0., September 15, 18G2. 

" Dear Sir : I enclose an extract from a letter "written by a gentleman of integ- 
rity and intelligence, residing in Washington, to a friend in New York, dated July 
21st, 1862. The original letter was shown to me, and I am permitted to make the 
extract. The writer says, ' publish it on the house tops, but do not give my name.' 

" I know the writer and have full confidence in the truth and accuracy of his 
statement. Under these circumstances I send the extract to you. 

" With respect, your friend, &c." 

" At a great diplomatic dinner on the 20th July, 1862, Seward declared first ' that 
he regrets not to have the power of Louis Napoleon, and to make a coup cVetdt 
against tlie Congress, vphich by its Confiscation Bill has prevented a peace from be- 
ing concluded with success, and further that he, for the first time, understood the 
necessity of a Cromwell." 

DRAFTING. ^ 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 

Washington, D. C. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferrt, N. Y., September 30, 1862. 

" Sir : I beg to call your immediate attention to a conflict of orders from you 
and Governor Morgan of New York. 

"At a meeting of the military committee of the 8th district of the State of New- 
York yesterday, and of the towns claimed to be exempted from the draft, it was held 
such towns had from the beginning of the war furnished a greater nuujber of soldiers 
than the number of its quota, and that claim was sustained by referring to an order 
issued by you. 

" The case is this, Governor Morgan's order to our Committee is, to charge each 
town with its quota, and to give each town credit for the number of soldiers furn- 
ished since the 2d day of July, 1862. Whereas your order, issued one day subse- 
quent to the date of the Governor's order, directs that credit shall be given for the 
whole number furnished without limitation of time. 

"I respectfully submit that inasmuch as all our proceedings taken to ascer- 
tain the number to be drafted from each town, have been in obedience to the order 
of the Governor, it would be best to conform your order thereto. 

"Indeed, under every circumstance, to limit the period to a later day would be 
best; for while it would be just to all counties and States, it would conduce to 
certaiuty and facility in ascertaining the numbers to be credited. 

"Allow me further to intimate that it is of great importance that this point 
should be settled promptly. I induced our Committee to defer their decision in re- 
lation to this conflict of orders until the next meeting on the 16th proximo, in the 
hope that the order mi^lit be countermanded by a new order from your Depart- 
ment. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant. 

"P. S. — Our draft is ordered to be made on the lOih October next." 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 537 

W. E. Webster aud Chakles W. Slack, Committee, to Jamks A. IlAMii.T.s. 

"Boston, Ottobor 1, 1102. 

" Very Deae Sik : A Committee of the citizens of Boston, sytnpui'.iiziug with 

the Administration and sustaining its measures fur the speedy suiij)ro.ssi.)ii cf tl.c 
rebellion, purpose inviting the people of this State to meet in Fancuil Hall un Mon- 
day next, October Gth, at 12 o'clock, m., to listen to adJresses from Hon. Charlc» 
Sumner, Uon. John A. Andrew, and other distinguished gentlemen. 

"Knowing that you fully approve such indorsement of the Guvcrnmont in iu 
present trial, the, Committee respectfully and cordially invite you to be jircscnt, and 
offer your views to the meeting. 

"An early response will oblige your friends of the Committee. 

" Very truly, your friends, ifcc." 

James A. Hamilton to Charles "W. Slack, and Others. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., October 10, 18C'2, 

" GENTLEMEN : The letter of your Committee of the 1st ultimo, addressed to rae 
at New York, was not received until this morning. After going into various band*, 
as appears by indor.-ements on the envelope, it was received yesterday at my son's 
office, and by him inclosed to me. 

" That I shonld have been thus deprived of the pleasure of being present as an 
invited guest, at a meeting at Faneuil Hall of the patriotic people of your State upon 
such an occasion, is sincerely regretted by me. 

"I should have esteemed it a peculiar favor to have had this opportnnity of 
uniting with you in the expression of my sympathy with the recently adopted 
policy of the Administration, announced by the President's proclaraatiou of tbo 22d 
ultimo. 

''Do me the favor to explain to your friends of the Committee the cau<e of my 
absence, and of my seeming neglect in not answering their very kind and thittering 
invitation. 

"I have the honor to be, gentlemen, with great respect, your friend, ttc." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to James A. Hamilton. 

" Wasiiixgtox, October 11, lSCt'2. 
" Dear Sir : I am much obliged to you for your promise of some financiid Mig- 
gestions with reference to my next report. Please let mo have them at as early « 
day as practicable. 

"I hope that General Wadsworth will be cordially and earnestly supported by 
every friend of the Admiuistratiou ; and tbat when elected he will prove l.im.*cll 
inca[.able of treaiing his success as a triumph over any class or individual of hi* 
supporters. " Yours very cordially, &c." 

BEIEF TO PREPARE SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TIlKASrRY. 

amount of loans— duty and expediency of asking FOi: TUK rr---' 

REQUIRED. 

'■ First, 1. The people will now meet the burdens before reverse*. 



. \l,.t \T 



538 EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

2. Assuming responsibility commands respect, the best assurance of prompt 

success. 

3. Moral effect upon the enemy. 

4. In Europe, confidence; Equal in resources and vigor to the occasion. 

5. To Great Britain and France, Hope of receiving cotton. J^^This con- 

sideration may be used there effectively. 
'■'■Second. Amount $200,000,000 Treasury notes and stocks. 

1. Treasury notes ; Small denominations 5's lO's, and 20's, without interest; 

Circulation at the "West ; Payable in duties, &c., and convertible into 
notes of a higher denomination bearing interest ; The 5's convertible 
into specie on demand ; To pay wages and for supplies ; The Mint to 

issue notes on deposit of gold, payable after • days without interest; 

They would circulate as Bank notes, be received on deposits, and perhaps 
issued by the Banks. 

2. The higher denominations ; Interest at 8 per cent, at the pleasure of Govern- 

ment after one, two, and three years ; Investing, &c. 

3. Currency ; What is it ? 

4. These loans would be confined to this country ; The people's loans; Effect ; 

Interest and duty to sustain the Government. 
" Third. — Stocks — Capitalists should have reason, to believe that more loans 
would not be required. 

1. Practice in war of 1812. Jacob Barker $18,000,000. 

2. Length of loan less interest ; Debt of England ; Trustees. 

3. Ability to pay debt an inducement to short period and high interest. 
'■'■Fourth. — When and where to be obtained. 

1. Abroad; Great Britain, France, Holland ; Early day; Specie basis of notes ; 

Lord John Russell might be made useful in placing the loan; Amends; 
Cotton by prompt conclusion ; Barings in the Government useful. 

2. Dutch are our fast friends. 

'■'■Fifth. — Security; Duties Specific ; Lands; Hamilton said to make. 

1. Public credit immortal, (3d vol. writings of Hamiltop) ; Whenever a loan is 

made, pledge funds to pay interest and principal. 

2. Tea, coffee and sugar as revenue, $16,000,000 to $20,000,000. 

3. Amount of duties; Acts of 1814 and 1824 ; Coffee 5 cts. 200,000,000 lbs.; 

Tea from 10 to 50 cts. I73,00n,000 lbs.; Sugar 3 cts. with drawback on 
refined. two thirds. (See Gordon's Digest.) 

4. Business w^U revive ; Present depression results in a measure from previous 

losses. 
'■'Sixth. — Direct taxes; Slaves, luxuries; The system to be preserved ; The time 
to establish it propitious. 

1. Useful in future contingencies abroad and at home. 

2. Confidence in Government: Increase of army and navy; Pacific Railroad. 

3. The future between the sections. 

"James A. Hamilton." 

James] A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. O., November 19th, 1862. 
"Dear Sir: I have this moment completed in great haste the suggestions I pro- 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. IIAMILTOX. 539 

posed to sent! you by my letter of October last. I regret that to read wlml I havo 
written should make so great a demand upon your time and attention, but I vtrily 
believe that should you adopt the system recommended, it will add to yonr faiuc. 
will secure the country against serious and imminent evils, and will havo the t-flV-ci 
immediately of giving increased confidence to the excellent system yon have adoptcl 
to meet the vast expenditures required to sustain this must <.'igniitic of all war5«. 
" I have the honor to be, your sincere and devoted friend, &c. 
" P. S. If I can be of service, you can conmiand me without hesitation." 

SUGGESTIONS FOR MR. CnASE. 

" The advantages to result from the establishment of an ample and unalterable 
provision for the payment of the interest, and the extinguishment of the principal of 
the public debt, are in part the following, viz.: 

'•'•First. — The public faith of the United States will bo preserved in the future as 
it has been in the past, beyond all question. As to the past, there are some facts 
wortliy of note. First. — The debts of the nation have been twice extingui^«ho<l. 
Second. — Under the most unfavorable circumstances, the United States have always 
paid the interest on their stocks in specie or its equivalent. Third. — When tlie three 
per cent, debt of the Revolution was extinguished, it was paid at par, although the 
stock at the time could have been purchased in open market at three fourths of the 
par value. 

"The Bank of England suspended specie payments on the 28th day of .\pril 1797, 
and continued in suspension until 1825. The notes of the bank depreciated imme- 
diately five, and went down thirty-five to forty per cent. During all that pt-riod, thu 
Government paid the interest on its public debt to foreigners, as well as British sub- 
jects, in those depreciated notes. 

" The nation wnll be secured against the burden of an overwhelming debt. Ti>o 
pernicious example of Britain on this subject should never be forgotten. Not only 
will our present enormous debt, beyond all peradventure, be in a continuous oour-e of 
payment under all circumstances ; but if the maxim that ' the creation of debt shonld 
always be accompanied with the means of extinguishment' should hocmo a fund.-v- 
mental maxim, the occasion for the creation of debt would bo found to be les* 
frequent, because it would generally bo accompanied by incrciu^ed burdens npon tlio 

people. 

- The public debt being secured by a solid i)rovi.^ion for its p:.y,n.Mf. woul.l .on.. 

a part of the capital and of the currency of the country. 

" Hamilton says : ' It is a well-known fact that in countries in which the na- 
tional debt is properiv funded, and an object of established contldence. it an^wor* 
most of the purposes of money. Transfers of stock or public debt are then c.,u.va. 
lent to payments in specie, or in other words, stock in the principal transductions uf 
business passes current as specie.' •■ 'tr 

" The benefits of this increase of sound capital in this country can ^^.: 
be appreciated. Hitherto our capital to build railroads, to c--<tnbh>h mu • •• 

to develop mines, to build ship^ to extend the settlements of our ^<'»"';j;-;" J^';^; 
to aid the unexampled enterprise of the people of the North over « fioM of greater 
extent than any other over presented to an intelligent and c ■ 
borrowed from foreign countries, at extravagant rates of intu 



540 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" Give to the debt incurred in defence of the national life that established confi- 
dence wliich must make it answer most of the purposes of money, extended, if it must 
be, to the enormous sum of two thousand millions of dollars, and it will thus render 
our country truly independent and self-reliant. 

" By our existing laws, the legal tender notes are convertible into the sis per 
cent, public stocks. If to those stocks is given that solid value which they certainly 
will acquire by the re-adoption of the old and approved funding system, those notes 
will be equivalent in value to specie, because tliey must be equal in value to the 
stock into wliich they may on any day, at the option of the holders, be converted. 

" Gold, by the suspension of the banks has thus become a mercantile commodity, 
and has ceased to be the foundation of the circulation. Its high price in the market 
is believed to be due, in a great measure, to the following facts: It is hoarded by 
individuals through fear, and by some in the hope of gain. It is hoarded by 
the banks of the city of New York to the amount of about forty millions, and by the 
other banks of the country to the extent of nearly all they held when they suspend- 
ed. As long as this gold could be had on demand, it was capable of adding by its 
whole amount to the quantity in market as merchandise. 

"The stocks of those States which had any marketable value, and the stocks of 
the United States held abroad, were on the breaking out of the rebellion, sent here 
to be sold, and the proceeds to be remitted in gold. There were also large sums 
belonging to foreign capitalists held by their agents here for temporary investments 
or speculation ; these were also promptly recalled. Thus, it will be perceived, was 
the country called upon in a moment to pay its debts abroad in gold. These cir- 
cumstances must be taken into account as rendering this article of merchandise scarce, 
and under the laws of supply and demand, may to a certain and not a very limited 
extent, account for the high price of this commodity. 

• "It is very generally averred that the issue of Treasury notes has created such 
a redundancy of currency as to have induced their depreciation one third. This is 
certainly a great mistake. That this redundancy is not so great as to create such a 
debasement, is proved by the admitted fact that the necessaries of life have not in- 
creased in price, except so far as they are affected by the duties or taxes. 

" If there be a great redundancy of currency, which is not believed, and a consequent 
depreciation, it certainly is not due to the Treasury issues alone. The amount of these 
issues is known, while that of the banks cannot be known. Although the weekly pub- 
lication of the condition of the city banks gives us the amount of the circulation for 
which they are responsible, it does not furnish any data by which to ascertain the 
amount of the bank-note circulation, because the city banks (I speak of New York) 
very generally issue in payment of the checks of depositors the notes of country banks, 
furnished, no doubt, by such banks to the Metropolitan banks for that purpose. It 
must be believed that the issues of the banks out of the large cities, not being con- 
trolled by the liability to a demand for specie, will in most cases be only limited by 
considerations of present profit, and thus the currency is much more liable to infla- 
tion than by the issues of sound and well managed banks or those of the Treasury. 

" Again, it is proposed to authorize the establishment of banking associations, their 
circulating notes to be provided by the Treasury, secured by a pledge of public stocks, 
if these stocks shall be made, as they will by the proposed sjstem, the equivalent of 
specie, tlie circulation issued by these banking associations will be more valuable 
than the notes of any other banks of issue, because nearly the whole capital of those 



. REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. 1IA>VILT0N. 541 

associations will be vested in stocks equivalent in value to gold, and i.lnce<l in tlio 
Treasury of the United States in trust fur the i)ayincDt of their circulation. In 
short, when (as is proposed) you make the notes so issued l.y ihc^o na-Jociatl-.n.s 
payable whenever the associ;ition shall suspend specie payment at the j.tiMic 
Treasury, you afford tlie whole country the best currency ever devised by the wit of 
man, better far than a metallic currency, because it is equal to it in value and far 
more convenient. 

" The amount of capital required. In relation to capital, the importance of the 
legislation proposed is not realized. We give merely a few hints for reflection. 

" The settlement of our vast region, the public lands, — one thousand millions of 
acres are given to all who will take and settle ujion thcni, and to that end measures 
have been taken by Government to induce the lalioring population of Europe to 
come and take these lands. Every house built, all farming imidenierits. and stock 
on the land thus taken and cultivated, demand cai>ital. To such settlement a 
saquence is, that the railroad, if in the interior, or, if on navigable waters, the steam- 
boat, must follow — here is a demand f )r the employment of millions c.f capital. 

" The iron, copper, and gold mines of the country to be developed demand a vast 
amount of capital. "We confine our remarks to iron. 

" Iron. Its uses. — Iron ships, iron carriages on iron roads, iron engines in 
every manufiictory, iron doors, floors, windows of our houses, iron floiiting and 
probably land batteries for harbor defences, the increased demand for iron imple- 
ments of war, are all uses of iron additional to those demanded by our previous 
civilization. 

"The product of iron in Britain in 185-t was 3,585,006 tons. To produce tlii^ 
were employed by direct labor, 238,000 hands, 2,120 steam engines of an a:;prcgalo 
power of 238,000 horses, and the gross value of the product was $125,000,000. 
The product in the same year in the United States was one million of tons, and its 
cost less than fifty millions of dollars, whereas tlic facility of getting it out, in con- 
sequence of its being in great part above the water level, is greater, and tla'exi>t;ni>o 
much less than in England. The whole area of mines of iron in the world is 
184,073 square miles. Of this area the United States have 133,032 square mik•^ .t 
nearly three fourths of the whole. The quantity of iron ores is unlimi'ed, ami the 
quality is equal to any other in the world. It is said we have iron and coul sutli- 
cient to meet the demand of the whole world for an unlimited period. They aro 
not developed from want of capital. 

"The railroads in the United States, 23,000 miles in extent in 1S5C.. and increas- 
ing at the rate of 3,000 miles a year, are more extensive than in a!! the world to- 
gether. • 1 1 

"To develop these immense resources of wealth, wo require cheap capital ana 
labor. The first will be secured by our funded debt, and the Litter l)> im; 
induced by our system of free homesteads and high wages. In iho me;in ■ 
capital invested in mining and manufacturing under our existing protocl.vo tariff. 
will secure us against the competition of the cheap capital and '"''"'"J''^ 
Give 
tinue 




'<>qna] 

reservmg, liowever, to ijongress ui^ n^ut uu ^uu^^t...-- 

value, and the success of our manufactures is so secured that wo will noi^ ■ 

ply our own markets cheaper than ever before, but wo will meet and un..c.-. . • 



542 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

hated rival, England, in all the markets of tlie world. No blow could be struck at 
her more effectual than this. 

" Give to our manufacturers of iron, cotton, and wool a protective system inca- 
pable of being repealed for a definite period, say even ten years, and their condition 
Avould be such as to put them beyond the fear of all competition, except that which 
they would meet with at home, which would most certainly bring down prices to 
the lowest living profits. Other considerations might be urged in favor of the pro- 
posed system which time will not allow. The great security of the proposed system 
against the mutability and inconstancy of legislators is not to be disregarJei). 

" At present, while the danger of political dissolution is great, we are all ready 
and willing to bear the burdens which the struggle necessarily imposes ; but when 
that danger is past, it is to be feared that a change may come over tlie people, and 
that parties may be formed upon grounds which will be disloyal to tlie pub- 
lic engagements. Should tliis be so, and should a majority of both Houses attempt 
to repeal the laws which establish the system, it is confidently believed that any 
President who might be elected would veto such a bill, and that it would be impos- 
sible to pass such a law by a vote of two thirds of both Houses. 

'• The future of our country, when the rebellion shall be crushed, will present 
questions to task the statesmanship of the Executive, and of all others connected 
witli the Government. I have not the ability to suggest, much less to discuss such 
questions as have, or will arise, but I am convinced that the financial system ought to 
be so guarded at the appi'oaching session of Congress, as to place it beyond the power 
of the representatives of the people now in rebellion, when the Union is restored, by 
combinations with any faction in the loyal States seriously to disturb it, and that 
upon you, as guardian, this duty is devolved. 

" Should the Confederate Government, by the defeat of its armies, the successful 
invasion of the Gulf States at different points during the approaching winter, be dis- 
solved, and should the people of the rebellious States send Senators and Represen- 
tatives to the next Congress, what would be the consequence in regard to the tariff, 
the internal taxation, and the public debt? Having repudiated their own debt, 
would they not endeavor to relieve themselves from the burden of taxation and 
debt by any means in their power? And would not Fernando Wood and his parti- 
zans unite with and uphold them in any purpose however disgraceful, in order to 
secure the control of the Government? These are pregnant questions. If they 
can arise in any eventuality, it behoves the Administration with the majority it 
now has in both Houses, to use all possible precautions to secure the nation from 
dishonor, and public credit from ruin. I fear that, after the Union shall be restored, 
we shall have an enemy in our midst more dangerous to the country than are tlie 
traitors in arms, and that to guard against the disastrous future which awaits us in 
so many forms, resulting from a union in our public councils with a demoralized and 
most exasperated enemy, true wisdom will require the Government to adopt and act 
upon the opinion that treason by a State Government is political suicide. 

J " James A. Hamilton. 

" November, 1862." 

" INTEREST ON LOANS. DIRECT TAXES. 
'•'•Interest on Laans. — Robert B. Minturn, head of the house of Grinnell, Minturn 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMT.S A. IIAMILTOV 



a ho 



& Co., New lork, who is the particuhir correspondent of the IWinf-. of London 
and wliose daughter married one of the sons of that family, called ntH.n tik. and 
anxiously urged that tlie interest on stoclc loans slionld net be less than 7 iHjr cent. 
He verily believes, if it is less that the loans will not be taken at pnr, and that the 
credit of the Government will he depreciated. 

" It is nrged by him and otliers, adepts in finance, that the diirorencc in cxpcnw 
to the Government is not to be considered under existing cironinstances; that our 
future must be so successful that the revenue from imports will viistly exwc-d all 
demands. The country is now bare of imported goods- that the imports unM tla-re- 
fore bound up to a vast extent— that we never liave had sucli an amount of spe- 
cie—that this will increase— that capitalists in this country will bo tempted by the 
high rate and absolute security to take the loans, in which case the interest will he 
paid to our own citizens, and the stock being at par will swell the volume of circula- 
tion. 

Treamiry Notes.— TXiq general impression is, that authority should bo given to 
issue notes of $10 without interest, redeemable by the sub-treasurers, not to be 
received in payment of duties. In this opinion I fully concur. Such notes wouhl 
afford a currency for the Western States; they could be most conveniently usod in 
paying soldiers' wages, and would be gladly received by them in order to remit to 
their families and friends. They would not be so liable to bo lost .as pdJ, or 
squandered. These are vastly important advantages. They are so inanife>t thai it 
would be wise to ask that power should be given to the Socretnry to issue some 
portion of the notes issued without interest. If he tliought it expedient, such n pro- 
viso could do no harm. Should the law to be passed reijuiro all to be issued bear- 
ing interest, the experiment could not bo made. 

" Treasury Notes at Interest, to malce a National Loan. — John Earl Williams. 
President of the Metropolitan Bank, the soundest man on currency in New York, 
not only approves of notes without interest, but urges, in the paper I inclo!*e, that 
the loan for the people should bear 10 percent, interest. Shoidd these uotcB on 
their face give 2| cents per day, this would be 9,-^-^ per cent., which would ap- 
proach as nearly to 10 per cent, per annum as might bo required. Mr. William*' 
opinion as to currency in the West is deserving of marked considenition. It wasi 
his bank, by his inspiration, which provided currency a few years a;.'o to brinj; for- 
ward the products of the West and which became the agent of the We>t.Tn bank-*. 

" See wliat he says as to Exchequer bills by England at 5 or 4 per cent. 

" Direct Taxes.— I advise a recommendation to raise $30,000,000 by direct taxw, 
according to the Constitutional rule for representation and direct taxation: 

Slaves, 4,000,000 at $500 e;ich, $2,000,000,000 (three-fit^hs) ;f 1,000.000,000 

Real estate in Slave States :'/""' " '" '"'^ 

Eeal estate in Free States -^•■' ' ''^ 

Total $:U),000.0(K>.000 

" One mill on $100 on $:30,000,000,000 would give $:]0,000.000, .<«y n rovcnoo cf 
$30,000,000 at one milk Divide this among the States nccorJiufr to the rule of 
Federal representation, and authorize any that should assume ^thc ; »• 

therefor a commission equal to 15 per cent, the cost to the L'ni!.' 1 ^' ' a. 



544 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" This arrangement woulJ be a convenient means of assuming the debts of the 
States incurred by advances in the present war, and would thus afford immediate 
relief to tlie Treasury. 

" As the slave States would not pay their portion of this tax, it would be a debt 
against them upon final settlement. We must therefore compute the revenue from 
such a tax only upon the real estate in tlie free States, which I have e-timated at 
$25,400,000,000. ^W° This is an estimate without any data, as I have no means here 
of obtaining ratios. 

"$25,400,000,000 at one mill would give a revenue of $25,000,000 at ]e:ist in 
round numbers, which sum, apportioned among the free States according to the 
Federal rule, would be advanced by most of them without delay. 

" Such a course by the States, affording the surest manifestation of their confi- 
dence in the Uuicm, would induce the utmost confidence at home and abroa'l. 

" Another idea, and I have done. Loans would be effected at home and abroad 
with much greater facility should our armies make an important and successful 
advance upon the enemy, and particularly if we should drive the rebels out of 
Kichmond. 

"James A. Hamilton." 

"PLAN OF A BANK OF THE UNITED STATES, 

" To be incorporated by an Act of Congress. For several minor details, see the 
Act of 1T91 nnd the Act of 1816. 

"The Constitutional power of Congress cannot be questioned. The action of 
the Government in 17tU by Congress, and by the Executive branch, upon the most 
mature deliberation, the acquiescent action of all the departments of the Govern- 
ment during twenty years, the action of the Legislative and Executive branches of 
the Government in 1816, the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States 
aflSrraing the Constitutional power, the acquiescence of the people during another 
period of twenty years, these two periods being more than one half of the existence 
of the Government under the existing Constitution, have settled that question. 

" A capital of fifty millions of dollars to be subscribed, three fourths in the 6 per 
cent, stock of the United States at par, and one fourth in the coin of the United 
States. 

" Location. — City of New York, with power to establish branches in certain 
named cities. The stock of the branches, one quarter to be furnislied by the prin- 
cipal bank, three quarters to be furnished by individual subscription, to wit . three 
quarters by stock of the United States, and one quarter in the coin of the United 
States. 

"The Treasurer of the United States to furnish notes to the principal and the 
branches on demand, in amounts equal to the stock of the United States held by 
them respectively, which stock shall be tran-ferred by the bank and its branches to 
the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to be held in trust for the ulti- 
mate payment of the demand notes. 

" The principal bank to receive all the notes from the Treasury, hold for issue 
a"s large an amount thereof as it holds stock and coin, and to distril^nte ainimg the 
several branches the said notes according to the amount of capital subscribed by in- 
dividuals, in stock of the United States and in cash. • . 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. 11 A \1 lI/roN. 51.'. 

" The capital to be one Imndred nullions of dollars, fifty millions to be bold by 
the principal bank, fifty millions to be distributed a.nong ti.e several braticl.e. in 
such amonncs as the principal bank may considor proper, to be la-lJ by cad. bavinir 
reference to the business of the respective locaIitii.-.s. ' 

"The capital of each branch to be paid for by its stock-liolders. 

"Capital stock to be forty millions of doll;us^ to be sub^^cribed for 75 pw cent. 
in six per cent, of the stock, and 25 per cut. in the coin of iho United Status. To 
have power to establish branches in various cities of the United Stato«, to .-ippropri- 
ate the capital in such an amount as the principal bank may deem ncccssurv nnd ex- 
pedient to each of said branches. The said cai)ital stock of said branclie-i to be 8nl>- 
scribed for 75 per cent, in 6 per cent, stock of the United States, and 25 per cent, 
in coin. 

" James A. Hamilton." 

^'Flan of a Bank to he incorporated hy the United States as its faml agent for and 
during the term of thirty years, the principal Bank to be located in the city of 
New Yorl; to have power to establish branches in such places as may be lurful, anl 
sanctioned by the Congress of the United States. 

" The Capital Stock of the said Bank to be one hundred millions of dollars, forty 
per cent, thereof to be subscribed for and hell by the principal Bank, the balance, 
sixty per cent, thereof, to be distributed from time to time among the branches 
which may be established by the principal Bank in such amounts as the principal 
Bank may deem proper and expedient. The forty millions to be held by the prin- 
cipal Bank as its capital, to be subscribed for as follows: 75 per cent, in six per 
cent, stock, and 25 per cent, in the coin of the United State?. The anioant of slock 
apportioned to each branch to be subscribed for in like manner. All the stock »o 
subscribed to be transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United State?, 
in trust for the security and eventual payment of the notes to bo issued by saiil prin- 
cipal and its several branch banks. The said notes to be provided by the United 
States, and issued to the principal Bank from time to time as required, in nmonnts 
equal to the amount of the stock so transferred as aforesaid. The faith of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States being plelged for the eventual payment by the United 
States, the security for the payment of the notes so issued being an equal amount 
of its own stock and the additional amount of 25 per cent, subscribed in coin. 

'= The principal Bank to pay the actual expense of printing and i)roparing the 
said notes. 

"The Directors, thirteen in number, of the principal Bank, to be elecU?d annually 
by the stock-holders, each share to be entitled to one vote. 

"The names of those of said Directors having the highest number of votes lo 
be, immediately after such election, sent to the Brcsident of the United S; ' •• ' o 
haviLg selected one of three persons so presented to him for Uresidont ot - 
shall nominate such person to the Senate as President, and by and with the con«cnl 
of the Senate, he shall appoint such person President of .said Bank, .nnd anoihor for 
Vice-President of said Bank, to be nominated and appointed as is above pruviJw! in 
regard to President. 

" The stock-holders of each of the branch banks to elect for fuch brnnch a 
board of directors twelve in number, and the principal Bank sh.ail appoint a <■ ~ 
holder of said branch to be President of said branch Bank, who .Hball br micI. «p- 
35 



546 llEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

pointment be one of the board of directors of said Bank, and shall hold his office 
during the pleasure of the said principal Bank. 

" The President of the principal Bank noay be removed from office by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, tor cause, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen- 
ate of the United States, and upon an emergency Avhen the Senate shall not be in 
session, suspended. During such suspension, and until another appointment by the 
President, the Vice-president shall be President of said Bank. 

" The said principal Bank to be located in the city of New York, and to be fiscal 
agent of the Government, and as such, under the direction of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, it shall receive on deposit and hold to the use of the United States the 
revenues of the Government of the United States (the capital Bank to direct when, 
where, and under what circumstances the several branches should receive such 
revenue), which revenues so received shall be immediately passed to the credit of 
the Treasurer of the United States, and sliall be held intact subject to tlie order at 
all times of the Government of the United States through the Treasury Department. 

"That the said principal Bank shall transfer the funds of the United States or 
any part thereof to such persons and places as the Treasurer of the United States 
may from time to time direct, without any charge whatever to the United States. 

" That the said capital Bank and the said branches may make loans and discounts 
to the whole amount of its capital and deposits exclusive of the amount of the public 
deposits. 

"That the United States notes issued by the said Bank and its branches shall be 
received by the collecting officers of the United States for public dues of all kinds 
and descriptions whether for duties, taxes, or the proceeds of the sales of public 
lands or otherwise. 

" That the said notes which shall be issued by said branches shall be paid on 
demand by the branch which indorsed the same, and not necessarily by any other 
branch ; but that all said notes issued by the said branch banks as w^ell as such as 
may be issued by the principal Bank shall, on demand, be paid by the principal Bank. 

" That the disbursing officers of the Government of the United States shitll leave 
on deposit the amount of money furnished to them by the Treasury, and shall on 
their che;^ks or drafts, for such deposits as the same may be required to be used, 
declare on what accounts and for what purposes the said checks are drawn, and said 
check shall, in all cases when practicable, be made payable to the person who is to 
receive the money therefor, who shall indorse on said check a rect-ipt for the same. 

"That it shall be the duty of the said Bank and branches weekly to return to the 
Treasury Department abstracts of the accounts of such officers and of the checks 
which may be paid as aforesaid. 

"This arrangement, intended to prevent the improper use of public moneys by 
disbursing officers, may be so altered in its details by the Secretary of the Treasury 
as may be required by commerce and the security of the Government. 

" James A. Hamilton." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to James A. Hamilton. 

" Washington, November 22d, 1862. 

"My Dear Sir: Accept my thanks for your letter and the paper of suggestions 
which accompanies it. I have read them attentively and find them very instructive. 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. HAMILTON. 547 

If the banking system is established, will it be advisable to exlinguUh tbo <l*ltT 
Should not an amount equal to that required for security of issues bo continued ? 

• I should be delighted to have you with me, and no doubt should benefit .ouch 
by your knowledge and judgment; but could yon be contented while T must bo bo»T 
m wntiQg, rather than study ? if so, you will bo most welcome. 

" Yours, most faithfully." 

James A. Hamilton to Dr. IIartt. 

" October 21, lftG2. 

"Dear Sik: The day is approaching when it will be useful that the Loyal 
League or its Executive Committee should act in reference to the election. A scries 
of resolutions should be passed by one or the other, applauding the policy of the 
President in a vigorous prosecution of the war by enforcing the laws of Congress, 
by emancipation and by all other Constitutional means within the range of liis un- 
limited military power, but, above all, one requiring or requesting all the niemlent 
of the League to support by their personal exertions and their votes all such candid- 
ates and none other, who are pledged to snpport the President's policy of emancipa- 
tion, and the most vigorous prosecution of the war, and calling upon the aftiliatod 
Emancipation Leagues throughout the State to require their members to i»ur-ue the 
same course. 

" Such a proceeding on our part will have no inconsiderable influence upon tho 
election. 

*' Your obedient servant, &c." 

Salmon P, Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to Jamks A. Hamilton. 

"Treasury Department, November 27, \SCr2. 

" My Dear Sik : Tlianks for your note and the leaf from the Bankers' Mn;;azine. 
Tlie ' Notes ' on the leaf were written by Mr. llomans, a clerk in my department, 
and suggested by inquiries which I directed, of course not altogether unfauiilior to 
me. I am working awny at my report, and see some light and much darkness. It 
would do me good to have you here to talk and advise with me, but I cannot hep* 
for that advantage now, and would not trespass on your kindness by as'^in:.' for it. 

" Your friend, most sincerely." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Trtfa.<ury. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Perry P. 0., November 29, 1S62. 

"My Dear Sir : Your very kind letter of the 22d instant was n.>t received unlil 
yesterday, owing to my absence from my home. 

" Most certainly the amount of debt necessary for tho security of bank iwnos 
should be incapable of being extinguished for at least thirty years, and not after 
that period if the system should work welh 

" I have believed that the bill authorizing the Banking System onphl to giro 
power to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue mx per cent. st..ok to nn amounl not 
over two hundred millions of dollars (or whatever otiier amount inifjht ■ I 

necessary) redeemable at the pleasure of the govcrnmont «ner r' i 

stock to be sold to the Banking As ociations in such aniotint-i o.s tin . , ■■ ; 

the said stock to be deposited witli tlie Treasurer of tho Unit.d States punmanl to iho 



548 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

sixteenth section of the said act — the said stock, to be paid for by them in Treasury 
notes, six j^er cent, stock, or the current coin of tlie United States. And further to 
the stock hereby authorized to be issued, only so much of the 5th section of the Act 
of 25th February, 1862, estabhshing a finiding system as requires the payment of the 
interest of tlie United States in coin, shall apply to this stock. 

" The payment for this stoclc in Treasury notes or stock, at the option of the 
association, might induce capitalists to form such associations without delay under 
the belief that they were purchasing the stock at thirty per cent, below par. 

" I submit these views as they arise for your consideration. 

" I have the honor to be, truly, your friend, «&c." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary' of the Treasury. 

" Nevis, December 9, 1862. 
""MyDeaeSib: I have read with very great satisfaction your report. Your 
administration of the finances in this most difficult and momentous struggle will do 
you immortal honor; and should this Congress adopt your banking measure, it will 
confer upon the nation inappreciable advantages. 

" Your devoted friend, &c." 

"At a meeting of citizens of New York, convened on 23d December, 1862, to 
consider the condition of the Republic, with a view to aid the Government in decided 
measures to crush the rebellion, it was 

" Eesolved, That James A. Hamilton, Robert Dale Owen, "William Curtis Noyes, 
Charles King, James "VY. White, J. F. Gray, William A. Hall, George D. Phelps, and 
Bradhurst Schieffelin, be a Committee (with power to add to their number) to visit 
Washington, in order to represent to the President the necessity of carrying out the 
policy of emancipation set forth in his proclamation of the 22d of September, and 
that they be further instructed to use all proper influence with the two Houses of 
Congress to induce them to carry out in their legislation the scheme of emancipation. 

" BEADiiur.ST ScniEFFELiN, Secretary. 

" Charles King, Chair many 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" Washington, December 31, 1862. 

" My Dear Sir : I enclose two additional sections for your bill. The first one 
needs no comment; it was by inadvertence omitted from the bill I handed to you. 
The second one is submitted with hesitation from the fear that you have already 
decided not to adopt it. However, at the risk of seeming to be intrusive, I again 
commend it to your consideration with the deepest solicitude, not only in order to se- 
cure tlie payment of our debts beyond all peradventure, but because it is, as was said 
by him who devised this system, ' the true secret for rendering public credit immor- 
tal.' Let me add to what I have before stated on this subject, that by thus perma- 
nently appropriating specific revenues to the payment in coin of the existing debt 
and the new loans, you give them a much increased value in market. Thus capital- 
ists, having ascertained that these revenues are permanently appropriated to these 
loans, are adequate thereto, and that they are absolutely devoted, being vested in 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. 11 VM 1 1. ion. 5 pj 

trust for that purpose, it is a matter of iuditference to tliciu wliolhcr further ilcbu 
and to what amount -will be required, becaiise such debts cannot divide this I'lnid witb 
them. Their priority of payment is linown and fixed. 

" I am also moved to urge your adoption of this system by cinsidern*"-- '• 

sonal to yourself. I am informed that members of tlio House intend to y: .0 

readoption of the old successful system, and I desire you to be iu advancu of all other* 
on this subject ; to make your hill in all respects such a one as will confirm the 
public confidence in your great fiuaucial abilities and thus induce the acceptance of 
your banking system. And here let me remark as to the latter, that the authority 
to deposit with the proposed banks ought not to exclude the deposits of the revcDucs 
from dutie?. The proposed bill ougbt to authorize you to make such deposits upon 
receiving adequate security by United States Bonds and upon such terms as you may 
think proper to prescribe. 

"I have no doubt that the authority to deposit will induce existing banks and 
capitalists to come into your system, and the greater amount you have to deposit, the 
more extended will he this influence. 

" Sincerely your friend, itc." 



CHAPTEK XV. 

1863— 18C6. 

Suggestions to Mr. Chase— Letter to Secretary Fe^scnden — Notes at interest and 
convertible — Texas, its true condition and means of treatment — Letter to Sena- 
tor Sumner— Napoleon and Mexico — Passage of Secretary Chase's banking 
bill — Selection of Mr. Olcott as Comptroller of the Currency — A suggestion 
about Savings Banks — Commission to inquire into the condition of tlie Freed- 
men— The invasion of Pennsylvania — The riots in New York — Threatened dif- 
ficulty at Tarrytown — The enlistment of blacks — Eevenue to be derived froin 
mines — Proposed act to abolish slavery — Levying export duties— Payment of 
the interest on the State debt in coin— The Chicago platform and the nomina- 
tions—Mr. Fessenden Secretary of the Treasury— Public lands and the public 
debt — False charges by the Confederate Congress. 

FINANCIAL SUGGESTIONS FOR MR. CHASE. 

The " SINKING FUND," established by the 5tli section of " an Act authorizing 
the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof, and 
for purchasing the floating debt of theUnited States," passed Februarj25th, 1862 
(Statutes at Large, p. 346), is as sound a system as can be devised ; but it wants 
that characteristic of 2^ennane}ice which can alone secure public confidence and 
thus impart to the debt of the United States that absolute value which will, 
instead of its being a great and unceasing evil, render it a blessing to the 
country. 

The section referred to declared that " all duties on imported goods " 
" shall be paid in coin, &c. ; " and the coin so paid shall be set apart as a spe- 
cial fund, and applied as follows : 

First, To the payment in coin of the interest, &c. Second, To the purchase 
or payment of one per centum of the entire debt of the United States to be 
made within each fiscal year. 

It will be perceived that there is in this enactment no engagement that the 
existing duties shall be continued; and consequently, without the violation of 
the public faith, they may be reduced to the lowest rate, and thus the " special 
fund " may be wholly inadequate to the payment of the interest or one per 
centum of the principal. 

It is well known that the appropriation of a fund which in amount will pay 



EEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. 11 A MILTON. 551 

the interest of the debt, and one per cent, of the pruicipal to be applied annually 
to the purchase of the principal, will extinguish the debt in loss than thirty-f-.ur 
years. By the operation of the sinking fund of Great Britain, f..ur liumlrcd 
million pounds sterling of the public debt were redeemed from ITsiJ to l>lx 
{BristccVs Resources of the United States, page 91, edition 1818) ; and by the opora- 
tions of the sinking fund first established by Congress, the debts of the Kcvo- 
lution, the quasi \^ar with France, and the war of 1812 were extinguished. 

The system of the United States aimed to establish two principal point*. 
'^ First, To constitute a fund sufficient in every possible event for cxtingui-nhing 
the whole debt of the Revolution in a period not exceeding thirty years." 
" Second, To fix the destination of the fund unchangeably, by not only appropri- 
ating it permanently under the direction of commissioners, by vesting it in them 
as property in trust; but by making its faithful application a part of the con- 
tract with the creditors." 

The first point is established at present by the Act of 2.3th of Fi'bruary, 1SG2, 
5th section, by constituting at the existing rate of duties a fund sufficient for the 
payment of the interest on a debt of one thousand millions of dollars at five per 
cent. ; and one per centum on such an amount of debt to be applied to the pur- 
chase or reimbursement of that principal sum. The second point was estab- 
lished by the following enactments : by an Act making further provision for 
the payment of the debts of the United States, passed August 10th, 1700 (.sec- 
tion 7th), which declares " that the several duties imposed by this Act shall he 
continued to ie collected and paid until the debts and purposes for trhich Iheij are 
2)ledged and appropriated shall le full >j discharged ; provided that nothing herein 
contained shall be construed to prevent the Legislature of the United Slates 
from substituting other duties or taxes of eipial value to any or all of said 
duties or imports." 

The duties imposed by this Act were altered by an Act pa.-^scd May 2d, 
1792; by the 13th section it was provided that the duties imposed by this Act 
should continue to be levied and paid, until the debts arc paid. 

These enactments gave that permanence to the funds appropriated, which 
was deemed indispensable to the security of the debt, without preventing sucb 
changes of the dutiesas experience might indicate as necessary or cxpedn-nt. 

By " an Act making further provision for support of the public cnnlit, and 
for the redemption of the public debt," passed March 3d, 1795, .section 9. it wa. 
provided, that, " as well the money which shall accrue to the saul sinking fund by 
virtue of the provisions of this Act, as well as those which shall have accrued 
by the provisions of any former Act or Acts, shall be under the dircct.on and 
management of the commissioners of the sinking fund," &o., &c., "an.l Miall 
be and continue appropriated to said fund until the whole of the pr- 
of the United States," &c., &c., " shall he and are hmhj Marrd to , , . -^ 
the said commissioners in trust, to be applied according to the I'^--'-^';";/;^ ^J^ 
aforesaid Act," &c., &c.. "to the reimbursement and rcdon.ptu... of the «.d 



552 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

debts, including the loans aforesaid, until the same shall be fully reimbursed 
and redeemed ; " and the faith of the United States is hereby pledged, that the 
money and funds aforesaid shall inviolably remain, and be appropriated and 
vested as aforesaid, to be applied to the reimbursement and redemption in the 
manner aforesaid, until the same shall be completely and fully effected. 

These are the essential enactments which established the sinking fund of the 
United States. 

This system received the sanction of Mr. Jefferson by an Act passed in 
1802, giving it greater efficiency; and by the report of Mr. Gallatin, his most 
confidential minister, in these words : " That the actual revenues of the Union 
are sufficient to defray all expenses, civil and military, of Grovernment to the ex- 
tent authorized by existing laws ; to meet all engagements of the United States, 
and to discharge in fifteen and a half yeai'S the whole of our public debt." 

The same system received the sanction of neai-ly every Administration by 
various enactments up to the year 1848. I believe there have been thirty 
Acts passed by Congress in which the great maxim, " that the creation of debt 
should always be accompanied with the means of extinguishment," is clearly 
required and enforced. We have thus, in support of the wisdom of such a sys- • 
tem, the sanction of the opinion of the Fathers of his country; and we have, 
what is much stronger, the result of experience in the great fact that this is 
the only nation which has paid off its public debt. 

Experience, under the direction of the Treasury by Mr. McCulloch, proves 
conclusively that the proposed legislation — that is to say, to appropriate the 
fund to pay the interest and one per cent, of the debt to commissioners in trust 
to purchase or pay the debt, and a like appropriation of the interest on the 
amounts of debt so paid or purchased in the same manner by the said commis- 
sioners — was indispensable. The Act of 2Gth February, 1862, has been treated 
by Secretary McCulloch, as a dead letter; which is not surprising, as he, in his 
first report to Congress, recommended the repeal of that Act. This was, "in fact, a 
recommendation to violate the public faith. 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Wm. P. Fkssenden, Secretary of the Treasury, 

Washington, D, C. ■' » 

" DoBBS FERity, January 22, 186S; Jj 

" Dear Sir: I beg leave to call your attention to the resolution presented by Mr. 
Dixon of Connecticut, to amend the Constitution thus : ' llie Congress shall have the 
foicer to lay a tax or duty on articles exported from any State,'' and to suggest that, 
as Secretary of the Treasury, it would be well to address a letter to the Committee 
of "Ways and Means, urging the importance of such an amendment in a fiscal point of 
view, indicating the vnst amount of revenue which could be derived from an export 
duty upon breadstuffs, petroleum, pork, tobacco, rice, and cotton, and suggesting sucli 
incidental advantages as your great familiarity with tlie subject Avould occur to you. 

" There is reason to believe that the effect of an export duty on breadstuffs by 
making the food of the operators of Great Britain dearer, and on cotton, by making 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 553 

the raw material dearer, wonl.l induce English mannfactnrors lo remove tlieir cop- 
ital and operatives, and establish themselves here. I loainrd when I wm IH-tHct 
Attorney of the United States in 1829, tliat sueli was the cllcct in more tlm^ „no in- 
stance of our high protective system of that period, and aficrward in isn7, when in 
Enghind, I was informed if that system had been continued, very many of the manu- 
factLiries were prepared to do tVie same. 

" I believe our present condition gives us the opportunity to make the Pons'tta- 
tion'what the wisest statesmen in the convention wished it to be, but in whioli ihoy 
were tliwarted by the selfishness and arrogance of the South. As to this cUnso, 
you will recollect that the South, under a threat of rejecting, insisted either tliat the 
power to levy a duty on exports sliould be yielded, or th:it nil laws reg'.iiutjng 
commerce should require a two-tliird vote. 

"I suppose it would behest not to press this until the amendment abolishing 
slavery is disposed of. I am solicitous that you should prepare with care such a let- 
ter, and that it should be published at the right time, because it would ho potential 
and that you should thus be connected prominently with this most imi»ortant and 
essential amendment. 

"I believe no other Government has denied itself tliis power. 

" I have the hon6r to bo, with great respect, youi friend." 

Hon, Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to Jamks A. Hamilton. 

"TuEAst'KY Depautment, Januarv 2fi, 1863. 
"MyDeaeSie: Your note is just received. The bill will, I think, pis-s; pnblic 
sentiment now seems thoroughly to demand it. The tax on banks will probnbly 
go into the financial bill, and so the necessity for putting it in the banking bill bo 
avoided. Very truly and faithfully yours, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of t!io Trea.sury, 

Washington. 

" DoBBS Ferey p. O., Fehrnary 5, 1863, 

"Deae Sie: Yesterday Mr. M. Taylor, a Dank President, one of the .ihrewdoot 
men in Wall Street, said to my informant, ' If notes at interest and convertible »re 
issued, I will lake for myself and friends three millions.' lie iubists that the cur- 
rency is not redundant, 

"It has occurred to me to say to you that the authority to issue such notes oiiuhl 
to be at a rate not over six per cent, ; this would be a pcrniis>ion to issue tbcm »t a 
less rate, which I am convinced is most expedient. It is of ndvanta^'e to the Tn-n- 
ury that the market rate of interest should bo lo-.v, less than six i-or .M.t.. in ortler 
to render your s'x per cent, bond an advantageous investment. If y-nr m,w* tn •! 
six per cent., they will fix the market value at that or a little higher rate ; on tJ.o »n. 
pons I would go as low as four per cent. This will he high enough to i-ntk-» Jc 
posits from the Banks where no interest is paid. , • , ,i 

"The morel hear from disinterested parties and reflect niHin the -"•■>*»' "* 
better satisfied I am that the currency is not redundant, and that li.« pnc« of p*l 
is not, under all circumstances, the true criterion of the value, I « .H "ol repeal lo 
you the argument. 



554 REMINISCLNCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" Do not consider me presumptuous in making suggestions to you on tliis subject. 

I am well aware that your reflections embrace all that is important, and that I can 

probably suggest ; yet I pray you to believe that I am urged to address you, as I 

now do, by an intense desire to serve our country and to promote the success of a 

friend. 

"I have the honor to be, with sincere regard, your?. 

"P. S. Since writing the above, the morning papers announce that the Senate 
Committee propose to deprive you of the power to deposit any part of the revenue 
with Banks. This is a great mistake, because it removes one of the strongest induce- 
ments to existing banks in the cities to come in under your system. 

" Yours, &c." 

TEXAS, ITS TRUE CONDITION AND PROPER TREATMENT. 

This was to me a subject of absorbing interest. After the military plan de- 
tailed in the following letters had been formed, a sketch was prepared and with 
the assistance of Mr. Kapp, an intelligent German, and most patriotic adopted 
citizen, was submitted to a number of influential Germans in New York who 
highly approved, and gave the assurance that if the Government would call for 
volunteers, the proposed oO,000 would be enlisted at " the tap of the drum." 

James A. Hamilton to Senator Charles Sumner. 

" DoBBs Ferkt, New Yokk, January 15, 1863. 

" Dear Sir : I have the honor to send to you the draft of a bill which will clearly 
indicate the course which I think ought to be taken with Texas. I believe the pro- 
l)Osed number of men could be raised without difficulty from among our German popu- 
lation upon the terms proposed, and that 80,000 men under a competent leader, to- 
gether with the Union men of Texas, would conquer the country in a few months. 
Men who would be unwilling to enli-t for three years or the war, would readily 
volunteer for a specified object, and particularly where the term of service would 
depend upon the efficiency of their efforts. Texas is perhaps, better known to and 
more highly appreciated by the Germans than any of the remote parts of the country. 
They would be conveyed to the places to be their future homes, and sustained at the 
public expense. The Bill looks to the appropriation to them of the jjlantations 
which have been occupied and prepared fur immediate cultivation, and gives them 
$100 with their wages to build such houses as may be necessary for immediate use, 
leaving with them their arms, and so placing them together, as will enable them con- 
veniently to preserve their military organization, an important provision, as secur- 
ing peaceful possession of their homesteads, and the country against insurrection. 

" I propose to form a bill to establish a territorial Government for Texas. That 
country may be rightfully considered as standing in a position altogether different 
from any of the States in rebellion, unconstitutionally admitted by joint resolution, 
not by treaty. (I hold that no .igreement can be made by this Government with 
another independent nation except by treaty.) However this may be, Texas was an 
independent sovereign power when the Congress of the United States consented 
that Texas should be a State of this Union. Texas, when she declared that agree- 
ment so formed null and of no eftect, as she did by her act of secession as we com- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 555 

monly call it, assumed her original position as a sovereign nnd independent power, 
and as sucli she made war upon the United States, tlien standing toward her m » 
foreign power, just as the other nations of the world were. 

" Now, if this be a correct view of the suhjoct, or one wliich the rnito«l '=•»•..- 
have the right to consider as tliat one which Texas has practically a.ssume<l. •■ 
right or wrong, our Government may and ought to accept the condilion of war 
■which she lias imposed upon us, and we are thus autliorized to conquer llii- 
and to hold it by right of conquest. By doing so, we get rid of the origin ,i .... . - 
ment with all its embarrassments as to slavery in Texas, and a.s to four more »Uvo 
States. On the other hand, if we consider and treat Texas as a State of the Union 
under tlie aforesaid agreement, we must take tliat in the wliolo, and thin i'\p<.«c. 
ourselves to a charge of want of good faith if wo refuse to admit other sl.ivo Slatci 
carved out of her Territory. 

" It is quite necessary for me to suggest to your comprehensive mind reasons 
and motives for adopting and sustaining tliis view of tliis subject. When con(|uered, 
in peace or war, the Congress have under Article 1st, Section 8, Chapter 1 ' ■■••■- 
plete power to establi>h a Territorial Government, and to apiily all tiie prov. 
the ordinance of 1789 thereto. 

" I am called upon by friends in New York to prepare an Einrmcipation Act, pure 

and simple. Mr. Owen believes such an act can be readily parsed, and i*' ' ■ - • 

ble of exertion enough, I intend to sketch an Act to provide for the ; 

African descent. This is a task I shrink from, because I am confident I ara not up 

to it. I hope you can read what I have written. 

" I remain with respect and regard, yours truly, vto." 

James A. Hamilton to President Abr.vh.vm Lincoln. 

'•' DoBBS Feruy p. 0., February 16, lS6n. 

"Dear Sir: My unceasing solicitude in relation to our country nuist bo mjr 
excuse for addressing this letter to you. 

" I am satisfied that Napoleon, in making war upon Mexico without coramittin- 
himself, which he is not apt to do, designed intervention, the c.^tablishuioiit of tl o 
Southern confederacy, and thus to acquire for Franco the riohe>t colony in !'• • - i 
formed by the Northern States of .Mexico united to the Stale of Texa.H, Hi- . 
tion to Great Britain and Kussia, followed up by his attempt to induce u* to I. 1 
'direct informal conferences with the authority which may represent the "• 
the South' were both intended to stimulate the traitors to continue the r •■ 
his progress in Mexico gave him assurance of success there, and thus .. 
the means of striking a decisive blow, through Texas, at the United St-ite*. 

" Such an acquisition would commend itself to the people of France l>y • 

mercial advantages, its rich mines and agricultural products, and p/. 

being an enticing outlet to the redundant industrious and frugal agr, . 

tion of that country, and thus by increasing the rewards of labor nt l.omo, to fire 

him a better chance of internal quiet, ^ ,,»,,, 

" The Pope would inlluence the Catholic clergy in Mexico d' 
to aid his designs, in order, as tlie Emperor intimates, to exien.: 
The United States divided, would shield his pn.vinco from nttuck. at i^l fur »oci. 
a period as might enable him to consolidate his power in Ins wn «. 



55G REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"The clear and definite rejection of the last proposal does Mr. Seward great 
honor. I rejoice that he has so well taken the only course consistent with our coun- 
try's honor. I do not believe that the Emperor expected or wished it should he ac- 
cepted. By the rejection, it may be, as a respectable English journal says, ' that 
lie has left himself apparently but one alternative, to recognize the South, and raise 
the Southern blockade.' Whether this is to be the alternative he will take or not, 
the occasion calls upon the Government for the exercise of wise precautions and 
adequate preparation for the worst. 

" The first step to that end is, to throw a large force without delay into Texas 
to subdue and settle that Territory ; and to do this most etiectually, I earnestly advise 
that you send a message to Congress, asking authority to call for 50,000 men to form 
an army for the sole purpose of subduing and settling Texas. A call in this form 
would be, as I learn from those acquainted Avith the German populations iu New 
York and elsewhere, immediately answered. 

'■'■ First. — The army should receive the same pay, clothing, and rations as the reg- 
ular army. 

" Second. — When the work is done, the men should receive each a bounty of $100, 
and eighty acres of land under the Homestead Act; they should retain their arms 
and military organization ; the land to be laid out in contiguous sections by regi- 
ments and brigades, and the rations should be continued for one year after they are 
mustered out of service in that country; and whatever else is required, should be 
done to fix thei-e a military body having an interest in the soil sufiicient, and at all 
times ready with the Union inhabitants to defend Texas against enemies from Avith- 
in or without. 

" This measure would not only secure Texas to the United States, but it might 
admonish the Emperor that his magnificent designs were not unattended with the 
danger of defeat wliich would, perhaps, shake his throne. 

" In addition allow me to say, this suggestion affords to the President a good 
opportunity for sending a message to Congress which would arouse the dormant 
energies of the patriotic people, without referring to the late attempt of the Emperor, 
except as having been ' guided beyond all the friendship which actuates him in re- 
gard to the United States.' It would be understood by our people as a measure of 
preparation against the attempts of a foreign power to dismember their country, and 
would thus have a tendency to repress the mischievous spirit of party, and of dis- 
loyal and malignant fault-finding so pi'evalent at this time. 

" The people, confident in your devotion to their interests, are always rejoiced to 
hear from you ; and at this time it would be particularly useful at home and abroad. 

" If you would reiterate your fixed purpose, in obedience to your special duty to 
the people and to the Supreme Disposer of events — who cannot be indifferent to those 
who are valiantly sustaining the cause of justice and the highest christian civiliza- 
tion — to carry on this war regardless of all consequences direct or contingent ; in 
order, in the language of Washington's proclamation in 1793, ' to reduce the refrac- 
tory to a due subordination to the laws,' and tliat it will be prosecuted by all such 
means within the power of the President as will conduce to tliat end. 

" The Constitution, the Union, and the National life being iu imminent danger, 
it is confidently believed that the first confers upon the Government, ordained and 
established by the people of the United States, all the power which can, in such an 
emergency, be required to preserve the two last — the Union and the National life. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. r).')? 

There are views in regard to Texas, its annexation, &c., wl.ich, when properly 
examined under proper circumstances— that is to say, after sho is snMiiwl— wUI 
present her position relatively to the United States altogellicr dilTeront fr.-m thnt of 
other States now in rebellion. But of this hereafter. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your friond, Ac." 

AN" ACT TO SUBDUE AND SETTLE TEXAS, AND FOR OTIIEIi PUUPOSES. 

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of tlie Uni'cd ■ 
of America in Congress asseinhled, that tlic President be, and ho is he-rehv , 
ized, in addition to the volunteer force which lie is now autliorized by law t.. raiso, 
to accept the services of any number of volunteers not exceeding ;JO,iiOi;, in such 
proportions of infantry, cavalry, and artillery as he may deem most expedient, for tho 
express and sole purpose of subduing Texas, and tliereaftcr of becoming - " 
therein. And that such volunteers, whenever the people of Texas shall hv > 
and brought into submission to the laws of the United States, shall be ini'stcrod out 
of service ; and every soldier who shall enlist under tlie provisions of this Art «hnll 
receive two montlis' pay upon the mustering of his company or nginunt into tho 
serv'ce of the United States; and all persons who sh.'dl ho enrolled into tl-e service 
of the United States under this Act shall receive the same pay aid rations now 
allowed by law to soldiers according to their respective grades; and all provisiona 
of law relating to volunteers enlisted in tho service of the United States for throe 
years, or the war (except in the relatiiin to bounty), shall be, and the same are hcro- 
by declared to embrace the volunteers to be raised under tho provisions uf this sec- 
tion, not inconsistent therewith. 

"And be it further enacted, that whenever the volunteers raised by this Art 
shall be mustered out of service, each Ilou-colnnlis^i aied ofticer and priv.iti- >' 
ceive a bounty of $100, and one hundred and sixty acres of land, and th- ■ 
retain their arms and accoutrements, and their military organization, to b« r<-ady to 
perform the duties of themililia of the country whenever required so to do ; the t*ai"l 
bounty lands to belaid off in quarter sections contiguous to each other f.r each 
regiment, nnd in such districts of counrty and plices as will best jireserve l1 ■ 
and good order of the loyal people thereof, and will promote the interest ot • 
diers who are settlers therein, and as shall be designated for thnt piir(M»so by iho 
military governor of Texas hereinnfier authorized to be appointed ; tlie sjiid bounty 
land to be occupied and cultivated by the owners thereof for and dnringtlio ihti.hI 
of five years, and to be held pursuant to the second section of the Act. ent il d, ' An 
Act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on tho public domain," passed M;iy 2t>, 

1862. , , . , , , • ^ 

And be it further enacted, that the President be, and he is hereby auihnnzo«i. 

to takt 
Texr 
an Act, 
seize 

States, and to cause the same to be appropriated amo-g the so.diers win 
enlisted and perform their duties faitJifully under this Act. 

" And be it further enacted, tiiat to all such of the v-junteers wh.. m..v U^ilW 
in battle, or may die in the service aforesaid, the bounties provided l-y tm* .\c, w 
money and land, shall go to the family or legal rop-oseiitativos '•»''"•••' ' 
soldier in the same manner as is provided by the second se-ti.-n ..i n.. 
Act, hereinbefore referred to. . ,., •„,„ 

"And be it further enacted, that the expenses incurred in ean.N.n- • ■ 
effect, shall be paid out of the general appropiiatiou lor tlie ami) ai.. • 

''' ''And be it further enacted, that the PreMdent y'" "'^' ' ^''j;;;:'^;:;:: '": '"' '" " 

hereby authorized, as a military necos-.ty, to a,.,.oint a ^^'J^"^, ;„..,. 

of Texas, in whom the executive power ihereot sh;dl K usico.wio 




558 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

therein and held his office during the term of three years, unless sooner removed by 
the President of tlje United States. He shall be Comtnander-in-Cbief of the militia 
of Texas, and ex officio superintendent of Indian aftairs. He shall have power to 
grant pardons forotfences not against tbe United States, and reprieves forofl'ences 
against the United States, until the decision of the Prt- sident tbereon shall be made 
known, and to appoint and commission all officers, civil and of tbe military, whose 
appointments are not otherwise provided for, and which shall, in the judgment of 
the President, be necessary and proper. He shall take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed." 

The above Act was inclosed to the President to be used in order to carry 
out tbe system proposed by tbe letter to bim of tbe 16tb of February, 1863, 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Salmon P. Cuase, Secretary of the 

Treasury. 

"DoBES Feret p. 0., February 27, 1863. 

"My Dear Sir: I congratulate you with all my heart, that your Banking Bill 
is passed. Among the great events which will distinguish this, the most interesting 
chapter in our history, or perhaps in that of any other nation, this one will be 
measured by the benefits it will confer upon the people of all parts of our country; 
and to him whose sagacity in devising, courage in proposing, and perseverance in 
carrying it out, it will give immortal honor. 

'•"When in the future of our country's unrivalled commerce the whole body of 
those who are engaged therein, aud indeed of those who buy and sell and toil, shall 
rejoice in the best currency in the world, looking back to this period of gloom and 
disaster, of incompetent captains and statesmen, your name will be uttered with 
gratitude and praise. The next thing is to induce men of business and wealth to 
form associations under this law. I have written to some such in New York, 
urging them to do so ; and in order to stimulate their enterprise, I have intimated 
that the first bank which shall be formed upon an extended basis, and by proper 
men, will probably be that one which will be employed as a fiscal agent. This will 
be a great advantage. 

" I have the honor to be your devoted friend and servant, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon, Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. O., March 10, 1863. 

" My Dear Sir : I write this note under the conviction that the friendly relations 
between us not only authorize but require me to do so. 

" Thurlow Weed has, as a good joke, related a conversation you have held with 
him as to your chances for the Presidency. This comes through such a source as to 
give me the assurance of its truth (not that you have so conversed with him, but 
that he had so stated). I believe him to be a very unfair man, and I now give you 
an incident to show how unreliable he is, 

" Some years ago, on my way as a delegate to a Whig Convention at Utica, to 
nominate a candidate for governor, he took a seat next to me in the car from Albany, 
and asked my opinion as to the person proper to be nominated, which I gave with- 
out reserve. Ho fully concurred with me and pointed out the means to be used to 
insure the nomination of such person and his election, with the objections to the 
other gentleman who was understood to be a candidate for nomination. Our con- 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. oJ\f 

versation ^vas unreserved, and left in ray mind such a clear conviction of Wc«d' 
wishes and purposes as tliat when I arrived at Utioa, and met with ihn».. who ' 
the advocates of the nomination of him whom I preferred, I gave as a 



. rv: 



IT 



confidence in the result the fact that Mr. Weed was with us In answer I 

" Yon are mistaken— Weed is now in that room (pointing to a door) will, the friend* 

of to secure his nomination.' I expressed my surprise, and -.vaitcd for Lml 

time to see who were in the room, when one of them came out. ] siid 'Wflp 

what have you decided, who is to be the candidate? ' He replied, ' Mr. — ' i 

said, 'Does Weed concur in that? ' He said, ' He does, it is all arrango<l.' Mr. Weed 
shortly afterward came out and came up to speak to me. I said, 'No! sir I ni 
informed of what you have been about. I never permit a man to cheat me twice 
I cannot know you.' 

" We did not speak for years afterward. This is stated not in confidcneo, bnt 
to put you on your guard. 

" With respect and regard, yours truly, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury. 

" DoBBS Febrt p. O., March 10, 1SG3. 

" My Deae Sir : You have made an excellent choice of a Comptroller of ilie cur- 
rency. Mr. Olcott is an experienced banker, very conservative, of good businefis 
habits and unquestionable integrity. I have not his personal acquaintance. Mv 
only fear is, he is too much associated with Weed. I should have preferred Mr. 
Cisco. He will probably' have leisure to form a sj'stem which will give n t!i.«tinct 
and analytical digest of the returns he must receive ; which at a glance will inform 
you of the course of the commercial business of the country. 

" As the law authorizes you to deposit a part of the revenues with one or more 
of these banks, thus making such the fiscal :igent of the government, ths power 
will enable a skilful financier to repress that reckless spirit of overtrading which 
periodically (say every ten years) has produced suspensions by tlie banks and ex- 
tensive bankruptcy. This, and the power to give a currency of absolute and uniform 
value throughout the Republic, are the promiuent value of your system. 

"I had a very interesting conversation with Albert Gallatin on tliis mbjoct. 
He considered a United States Bank as indispensable to the Trea-ury, .Ttid ns m'>«l 
useful as a great regulator and promoter of commerce, and also with ,Mr. Crawford. 
in 1820, who expressed like views. 

"The Sab-treasury scheme was the fruit of a sterile soil, Iiaving very little cnlti- 

vation. 

" It was a great misfortune to the country that Mr, Van Huron was not r; 
a judge of the Supreme Court, as he hoped to be when Smitii Thompson w:ih 
ed. In a fiscal point of view, the true use of the precious metals is lo m . 
the foundaticm of credit. To make them barren by burying them in n Stib-lrc««urj, 
is taking a long step backward. 

"That system h;is been found to bo incnpable of doing what u.. ''- 

promised for it, to wit: to restrain the over-issues of the hanks, an.! thi - 
panics, suspensions, and bankruptcies. During its existonoo, thoro have bi-cn throe 
or more such disastrous events, while during the two Uuitcd States hank* (40 ye%n\ 
I believe there was not one. 



560 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

" Vonr choice of the means to raise money is looked for with very great interest. 
I have entire confiJence that it will be a judicious one. 

" With sincere respect, 

'• Your friend and servant, &c." 

James McKay to James A. Hamilton. 

"March 21, 1863. 
"My Deak Sir: I was truly sorry not to see you when you were in town in the 
early part of the week. On the very day you were here, I received a telegraph 
from the Secretary of War saying he would like to see me. I went on immediately, 
and only returned this morning. The commission in wliich you feel so much 
interest, and were principally instrumental in getting organized, has been ordered, 
and consists of Owen, Dr. Samuel G. Howe, of Boston, and myself. In making the 
order for the commission, Mr. Stanton has used the broadest terms, and has requested 
us verbally to draw up our own instructions, with the single snggesti>n that they 
should have scope enough to comprehend the whole subject. We have written Dr. 
Howe, requesting him to meet us here on Monday or Tuesday for the purpose of 
preparing these instructions, &c. We have also requested Governor Andrew, if his 
engagements will permit, to give us the benefit of his advice, and now, my dear sir, 
I want to ask the same favor of you. Mr. Owen I expect to-night, but I promised 
him to write you on this subject, and ask a conference with you. As for myself, I 
cannot think of beginning so grent a work as this seems to me, without the benefit of 
your counsel and advice. Please let me hear from yoii, and much ob.ige 

" Yours, most sincerely, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. D. H. Robertson, 

"DoBBs Ferry P. 0., March 27, 1863. 

" Dear Sir : I am sure it would be useful to the country, as well as to the fi-ugal 
and industrious portion of our laboiing fellow-citizens, if the savings bai.ks were 
required by law to receive on special deposit the public securities of the State and 
National Government; and to collect the interest as it becomes due thercv/n, and 
carry that to the credit of the depositor. 

"Persons now in my employment leave their wages on deposit at interest with 
me. I would much prefer and urge them that they should invest in the national 
stocks, which they decline to do, because they have no safe place to keep such bonds 
or evidences of debt. The remedy I propose would remove that difficulty : it would 
give them a higher rate of interest than the banks give, it would tend to absorb so 
much of the n.-itional debt, and to bring that class of persons into such a connection 
■with the government of the United States as would teach them its value, and to give 
it their support, whereas it is now only known to them through the tax-gatherers. 

"I have made a rough draft of a bill f ^r that purpose. 

" With respect, yours, &c." 

" Tlliereas, IN'ational and personal considerations require that the industrious and 
IruL'al poition of our laboring fellow-citizens should have tlie o[)portnii.ty of mani- 
festing their confidence in the Government of tiieir country, and the advantages 
Avhich would result from their becoming the owners of the National and State 
Securities, which tliey are now restrained from purchasing by the want of secure 
places to keep such securities, wherefore 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. IIAMILTOM. 501 

" Be it enacted, That the Savings Banl^s in thi^ State he, nn-l tliov mq ' 
thoriztd and required to receive and hold on special deposit the bonds ..r 
of the debt of this State or of tlie United States to the credit of the ■ 



thereof, to any a.niount^ not exceeding thousand d.dhirs7nr''" I 



be the duty of the said banks from time to time, as the same U 

collect the interest on said sperial deposits and to carry tho same lo ii.o crtnllt 

of the depositor thereof when collected," 

H. D, Robertson to James A. IIamiltom. 

" Senate Chambeb, Albany, March 29, 1862. 

"My Dear Sir: Yours in relation to Savings Banks is received, I like tho idea 
suggested by you exceedingly, and shall introduce a bill embodying the provision* 
of the one you sent up, but I greatly fear that it is too late to pass it this Session. 
However, it vk'ill call attention to the necessity of such a law. 

" Yours respectfully, d:c." 

Col. James McKay to James A. Hamilton.' 

» New York, March 27, 1863. 
"My Dear Sir: Inclosed I send you a copy of the order for the CommisMon, 
and also a draft of the instructions as we have prepared them; will you hnvo lhf> 
goodness to suggest any additions or amendments to these latter that may seem to 
you appropriable ; will you also think of an appropriate name for tho Commiieion, 
which Mr. Stanton asked me to do, and we have not yet quite settled upon any. I 
have not yet heard from Dr. Howe since he left us. and do not now know the cx»ct 
day when he may return with Gov. Andrew ; nor do I know, indeed, if the latter will 
be able to come at all, as he writes me that the Massachusetts Legislaturo u about 
closing its session, and he is very much occupied. 
"Let me hear from you soon, and much oblige 

" Yours, with sincere esteem." 

" Ordered, That Robert Dale Owen, of Indiana, Col. James McKay, of Now York, 
and Samuel G. Howe, of Boston, Mass., be, and are liereby appointed commi^ssiooor* 
to inquire into and ascertain the actual (pliysicil, mental, and moral) r ^ . '• - of 
such persons of African descent, as by the Acts of Congress, or tlie ' '• » 

proclamation have been emanci[)ated, and of such as may be found with; ■•* 

of ihe armies of the United States, or inhabiting or being withm sue . ■ • of 

country as were once in rebellion against, and now under tho control of tho Lu»t*l 

^''" And to report such a system of measures as will best and most em.vtuillT con- 
tribute to the protection and support of such persons, and enab o tho.n '" -;'l;P;'rt 
and defend themselves as f.eedmen, and to elevate them m .l'"-;,**"'"" 'l^ J'"'"j; 
beings. Also in what way they may be most usefully employed uitho^sorncouflbo 
Government of the United States for the suppression ot tho rebellion. 

James A. Hamilton to Col. James McKay, New York. 

"ilarch n I'^M. 

" My Dear Sir : Your letter of yesterday, inclosing a copy of i.'.c order. Ac, wa* 
received to-day. Th3 last has been examined wit!, mv crcat caro. I do* «lani 
3G 



562 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

tlie order accompanied with some suggestion of change in the first paragraph. I 
think it best to adopt the language of the 11th Section of the Act of July l7th, 
1862, ' persons of African descent,' as well because it is there used, and because it is 
more definite than ' colored population.' I refer to proclamations other tlian the 
one proclamation of July 1st, 1863, because that of September 22d, 1862, was the 
foundation of the latter, and they must be taken together. 

" I also extend your inquiries to freedmen, who may be found in such parts of 
Louisiana, &c., as were excepted from the proclamation of July 1st, who may have 
come from other places, or may be freed by other acts, being the slaves of rebels. 

" Should you adopt any of these suggestions, let them be produced in your hand- 
writing to avoid exciting any sensibility. 

" Yours truly." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. 

" April 14, 1863. 
"My Dear Sir: I am endeavoring to induce the frugal and industrious of 
the laboring classes in my neighborhood to invest their savings in the bonds 
of the United States, and with some success. Their objection is, that they have no 
place of safe deposit. To obviate this difficulty, I drafted a bill for the Senator for 
this district which he approves, but feared it could not be carried at this session. 
I call your attention to this subject in order that you may extend your influence 
to Albany and elsewhere. It is only necessary to enact that the savings banks 
shall receive and hold on special deposit the stocks and National Securities, to 
collect the interest and carry the same to the credit of the depositor of such securi- 
ties. Such a measure would induce the absorption of your bonds to the amount of 
millions, would benefit the people and would be a means of strengtliening the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. 

"I have the honor to be, with respect, &c." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, to James A. Hamilton. 

" Treasury Department, April 8, 1863. 
"My Dear Mr. Hamilton: Yours of the 14th has just been received. The 
suggestion made as to deposits of State and National Securities with Savings Banks 
meets my entire approval, and I have sent your letter to an active friend, now in 
Albany, who, if it does not reach him too late, will do all in his power to secure 
the passage by the Legislature of such a bill as you suggest. 

" "We must make such collections and deposits a part of the general banking sys- 
. tem at the next Session of Congress. 

" Yours very truly, «fec." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Charles Sumner, Washington, D. C. 

I "June 26, 1863. 
" My Dear Sir: I pray you to urge the President and Secretary of "War individ- 
ually, to call all the troops from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, that 
are not absolutely necessary to protect garrisons, &c., and transport them to 
Baltimore and Philadelphia. 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 50,'J 

" It is believed 50,000 disciplined troops will thus bo ul cotiunnn.l to rc«i»t U>« 
advance of Lee's marauding corps, and ultimately to destroy bis nrmv. 

*' These troops are useless where they are. In tlio city of New YorV. ,t 

I found extreme dissatisfaction among our friends. If I can be of nny ...r... ., in 
Washington, I will go there at a moment's notice. 

"Truly your friend and obedient servant." 

James A. Hamilton to the Chairman of the Military Committee of the 

8th District. 

"Juno 30, 1863. 
"The invasion of Pennsylvania by a formidable enemy threatening Pliiladelpliu, 
induces me to address this letter to you as a member of the Military Ck>mmittce of 
this District. 

" The danger that our sister State will be overwhelmed by Leo's army, unlcM an 
immense force shall be accumulated in his front, is so imminent as to call f>>r i>rom|>t 
and most energetic measures, individual and collective, to summon to arms nil tbe 
able-bodied men of this State. 

" I suggest that our Committee should meet at the Astor House, New York, on 
Friday next, July 8rd, at 11 a. m., for consultation on the subject. 

" I have addressed all of our members whose addresses I have to thia end, and 
I beg leave to suggest that you should do the same." 

From James A. Hamilton to Horatio Seymour. 

"July n. 18G3. 
" The Military Committee of the 8th Senatorial District of the State of }*d\v York. 
appointed by Gov. Morgan to raise Regiments of Infantry in that District, believing 
that it is the duty of the People of this State to aid their brethren of Pennsylvatia 
and Maryland in driving the invading enemy from these State?, and that it is far 
better to meet the powerful army of the Rebels in Pennsylvania than in New York, 
have the honor to present their respects, and to tender their services to your Ex- 
cellency to assist in any manner you may indicate, in raising the soldiers yon hart 
so promptly and energetically called to the field, to put down this atrocious Ucl^llioo. 

" By order of the Committee, 

"James A. IIamii.to>.'* 

No notice was taken of this letter by His Excellency. 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Edwin M. Stanton. 

"July Irt, !;*«. 
" In my letter yesterday I informed you of the measures taken to n-i-' " - "^ol 
in the neighborhood (Tarrytown). At present, all is -luiet, with threat. . •• 

ever, at all the landing places along the River. 

" There is a large foreign population at Yonkors, ... the pistol fu 
manufactories, who will be compelled to yield to the rioters, and »<.., .■ • 

into the field against us. , ... , . „,«, fi.„M- -^.i 

" Captain Leonard, Provost Marshal, has acted w.th ,'r..at ,.rom,.t;.ud« a,»J 

efficiency. We, at the same time, want your assistance. 



564 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

^^ First. — "We want four or five hundred soldiers. When the riots are put down in 
the city, the soldiers can be sent to us. (The rioters will certainly come here.) 

'■^Second. — Whenever the draft is made, it should be done at the Court House, 
White Plains (the county town). The building of massive stone can be made a 
fortress. It is in an open space, incapable of being burned. The town has not as 
large a foreign element as there is in Tarrytown, and above all, if the building 
should be fired, private property would not be destroyed. We could in that build- 
ing and the jail, close by tlie 0. H. where there are very few tenants, provide for a 
large force. 

" Third. — We want money to pay incidental expenses, for transportation, rations, 
spies, &c. If you have not a fund for this purpose, I will provide the means at your 
request. 

" Fourth. — I think it would be useful that the District Attorney of the United 
States for the Southern district of New York (which includes this and other river 
counties), should be instructed to take measures to cause to be arrested some of the 
leaders. I believe the law is, that if two or more shall combine to resist the execu- 
tion of the laws of the United States, they are guilty of felony (of treason). 

" The Provost Marshal can make the necessary oath in relation to some of the 
people; and by the employment of detectives, we can get the names of others. 
Nothing would so much tend to repress rioters as sliutting up the leaders for a few 
days or weeks. This course would be in conformity with the pretended wishes of 
the men who have stimulated these excesses. 

" P. S. The enrolhnent papers of the districts are beyond the reach of rioters for 
the present." 

I Moses G. Leonard to James A. Hamilton. 

" August 13, 1863. 

" Your note of the 10th inst. did not come to hand until this a. m. I will most 
gladly inform you of the time for the draft, and be assured, my dear sir, that there 
is no one in the entire district in whose judgment I would more readily confide than 
yours. I heartily thank you, not only for the past of your services, but the renew- 
ed pledge of your proposed aid. 

" Mr. Felter has not as yet received any money from the Government. Why 
delayed, I do not know, but I hope not much longer. I am sure he will remit to 
you as soon as he shall receive from Washington. He has already spoken of it 
to nae. 

" Hoping that you may be recuperated in health and strength by your stay at the 
Springs, and that your useful life may be long protracted, 

" I remain, &c., &c." 

Moses Gr. Leonard to James A. Hamilton. 

" October 21, 1863. 

" Your note of October 19th has been received. 

"Your suggestion as to the prompt measures to be taken with any person at- 
tempting to bribe shall be complied with. 

"I would also say, that your ready compliance to address ' any meetings at any 
time or place,' is nothing more than your friends and the friends of the ' good cause * 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 'jftf) 

anticipated. I will confer Avith the county comuiitteo in refirenco thereto, and in 
the mean time, dear sir, 

" I am, very sincerely, your obcd'l jicrv't." 

This correspondence related to an attempt by some of our foreign popula* 
tion to prevent the draft, by destroying the records with the buiMing in which 
the Marshal's office was. Meetings were held in the neighborhood of Tarry- 
town by men from the east side of the river as well as tlio west, and harangued 
by designing Copperlieads. At one of these meetings, tlio people were urged to 
go on with this felonious course by a speaker who said, " We have been advi.sed 
to this course by a lawyer, a justice of the peace, and even by a clergyman. Wo 
have the power, if we are united, to stop this offensive course of raising men." 

A body of rioters went on their way from the south part of the town, 
advancing to Tarrytown with music and a flaor, endeavoring by threats to com- 
pel men in the fields to stop their work and go along with tliem ; wlicn in their 
course they learned from our scouts that we were prepared for them, they 
stopped by the roadside and scattered. 

On the ground near the marshal's office we collected about fifty men, who 
were armed with such guns as could be obtained. The arrangement \va^, that 
one half of this force should be stationed in the building where that office waa, 
and the residue in the second story of an opposite building. The orders were, 
to keep strict silence, and when the rioters made an attack on the door of the 
office building, to fire a volley from the opposite side of the street into their 
midst, and most effectively ; and this would have been done. The force in the 
office building was under the command of a young lieutenant of the army, who 
stopped at the station, and that in the opposite building by the writer. 

The Rev, to James A, Hamilton. 

" July 15, 1863. 

" My dear Me. Hamilton : I am one wlio believes that the laws sliould bo obey- 
ed, and that every citizen slionld give to his coantry and government what a child 
should give to his parents and parental home. At the Fame time, in either cue, 
wisdom would suggest that the laws and rules should be such as the c.trzon and 
child, if well-disposed, would take pleasure in obeying, Now, I btlicvo that U u. an 
acknowledged fact, that a draft never has been, and never will be, obeyed w.ih 
pleasure by any people under any government. Such being tho case, U mu« N> 
unwise, if any tiling else will take its place, 

"Taking it for granted, then, which I believe I may, tbnt one wilhnp roIoDt«*r 
is worth in the army two unwilling conscripts, I would nsk your jud.-nieut a. to 
whether you do not think that a very effective army, equal to any e.r : ■ 
not be kept in the field by the volunteer system under the following ■ •^• 

First, The draft is not postponed, but given up "''^^' «"^V'T7' "J.,«,n c-tablbh- 
constitutional. Second. In its place a careful and thorough nnl. .« .ptc m e.tablUh 
ed ; such as we have at present, I presume, would do, although I «m 
enough with it to speak decidedly, capable of being carnal «,> t- « ..^ 
efficiency in the way of drill, according as the times re.,n.r..l. At the i r. 



566 KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

for example, let every man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five be required 
to drill for two hours three times a week, either in the district of his residence or of 
his business, as most convenient ; let the exempts be very few, and the fine of ab- 
sence beavy. Thus the rich and the poor, the merchant and the laboring man, 
would meet together often with arms in their hands on the common platform of a 
common country, with no $300 difference between them, and women and children 
and old men would find pleasure and health in witnessing the drill, as something 
that had to do with country, and not money. Then let the drill officers be also re- 
cruiting officers, and trust to the military ardor which would be excited by the 
handling of arms and the good opportunity of a word here and a word there on the 
part of the officers, to find as many willing and enthusiastic volunteers as the 
country might require. It would make a foreign or a domestic enemy tremble to 
know that every man fi-om eighteen to forty-five, throughout the whole of our 
land was drilling three days in the week ; whereas, after the experience of this 
week, the necessity of a draft will ever be a source of rejoicing to the enemy and of 
fear to the Government. 

" With much respect, I am your obedient servant, &c." 

James A. Hamilton to the Rev, . 



"July 16, 1863. 

"Eeverexd and dear Sir : I regret that my engagements do not permit me to 
give as full an answer to your letter of yesterday as my respect for your opinions 
and the subject of it demands. The fundamental condition of every political com- 
munity, state or nation, is individual and personal sacrifice. We necessarily give up 
a portion of our personal rights and our individual opinions. I do not mean to say 
that you and I have not the right to form opinions and to express them, as to the 
policy or constitutionality of laws, but whether we approve or not, we are bound to 
obey, and do all in our power, and at any sacrifice, to sustain the laws. 

" There are various civil duties that are unpleasant and oftentimes injurious to 
us; to attend as jurors and witnesses, to pay taxes, to give our lives to the service 
of the country, and when our country is at war, right or wrong in our opinion, to 
sustain the Government. I hold these to be truths which no good citizen will deny, 
and I also hold, that although the citizens may find these duties far from pleasurable, 
they are bound to perform them earnestly. 

" The analogy between the duty of a citizen to his Government, and of a child to 
a parent, does not strike me as very clear ; however, suppose your boy should find 
more pleasure in going to his play than his school or his church, would you think 
he is to be permitted to have his choice ? 

" I admit that a law authorizing a draft will never be obeyed with pleasure, and 
yet I believe that there may be occasions when that mode of raising troops must be 
resorted to, and that such is the case at this moment, because in this State there is 
no organized militia. A law for that purpose was passed last winter, but uniil 
within a few days, nothing has been done to carry it out. 

" In the war of 1812, and for years after, we had an organized militia, but it was 
burdensome and disagreeable to the people, and the law was changed. 

" You probably know that for years past there has not been any militia training 
in this State. lu the city of New York there have been uniformed companies whose 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 50/ 

organizaticm has been kept up. The euroUment of tho militia di-i)cnJ« uiH»n lh<? 
State Governments, and if tliey do not clioose to have such a f..rco, tlic Tfiiied 
States cannot call it into being, and consequently not in tho national .nvrvico * to exe- 
cute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and ropcl inva»toiu.* Th« 
authority of training the militia and appointing the officer?, is expres-sly rcacrrcl to 
the States. 

"I believe the existing conscription law is constitutional. Congrc-» ha* power 
' to raise and support armies.' This is an extensive and unlimited power. ThcC< n- 
gress has the power expressly given, to ' make all laws which shall he norc.-..'iry and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.' Under tliis clause, U>c 
Supreme Court has decided that the Congress is the solo judge of tlie ujcans which 
are expedient to carry into execution the express power, and that whatever mcav 
ures Congress shall judge necessary (expedient) not forbidden by other parts of tho 
constitution, are constitutional. Apply these authorities — Congress lias decided to 
raise an army by conscription, that is by draft, and to give the President tho |)ower 
to appoint all the officers required to carry such law into effoct. But I have to re- 
mark above all, all the officers and departments of tlie Government arc as much 
bound to obey the laws in their official as in their individual capacity. This is a well 
settled axiom. The President must consequently raise armies in the mo<lo ro"iuirc<l 
by law, and under his oath of office he 'must take care that the laws arc f.itl.fullj 
executed.' He has, consequently, no choice of means, but if ho had, in tliis State bo 
could not use the means you refer to, because they do not exist. 

" It would be giving up the Government to yi.-ld to the demands of a mob, and 
pusillanimously to refrain from carrying into effect a law because of the threata or 

violence of a mob, 

" With great respect, yours, itc." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. Hlch L. Bom>. 

"Nevis, Donna FEifnY, September 7, 180a. 

" SiE • Your letter of the loth ultimo addressed to the Secretary of War treat* 
with great ability a subject of vast importance to Maryland, and it is bolk-vod to be 
one of vital consequence to the whole country. The employment of tlic Blacks ..lavo 
and free, in the military service of the United States, may be decisive of ti.e contcl 
in which we are now engaged to preserve tho national life. If the slaves aro not 
employed by the United States, they will be by the enemy. . . , 

" The proclamation of August 1st, issued by the arch-tra.tor Dav.s was ■ 
as an intimation to his vassals, the slave-holders, that if ho could not ub . 
men to fill up the broken ranks of his armies, he would with tho enor.'v ., • 
tion command the services of their slaves. _ 

" Mr. Madison (Federalist No. 43), referring to insurrection says ^ I ... 
of an unhappy species of population abounding in some of jLo ^ --. ■• 
the cilm of recrular government are sunk below tho level of men. U^ 
e^pfsLtsc^nesoLivil violence may emerge into the hu^^^ 

a superiority of strength to any party with which they m.^ .v-s ...... 

'This premonition of ajudicious statesman thoroughly acpmi.t.^ w 

ject, ought not to be passed unheeded. ^ 

" If the President of the United States does not u.o nil tho means r« 



5G8 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

secure the military services of this ' unhappy species of population,' and thus ' give 
a superiority of strength to his side, the enemy will certainly do so.' 

" The right of the President to command the services of the slaves of Maryland, 
and of all other parts of the country now suhject to the control of the Government 
of tbe United States, or which can be reached by his armies, is as clear as that be 
has the right to receive or command the services of the free blacks or white men. 

" It is a principle of public law universally recognized and acted upon, that all 
persons born within the realm or 'extent of government,' owe natural and unquali- 
fied allegiance to the Government under which they are born, except those who are 
the children of persons owing allegiance to a foreign State or potentate. 

" In the language of Blackstone, ' Every man owes natural allegiance where he 
is born.' Again ' natural allegiance is such as is due from all men within the King's 
dominions immediately upon their birth,' The dominion and control of the Con- 
stitution of tbe United States embraces all the country and people within its exterior 
limits. 'Allegiance is the tie or ligament which binds the subject to the King in 
return for that protection which the King affords the subject.' From these great 
and fundamental principles, it follows that all men born within the jurisdiction of 
the United States, owing allegiance thereto, are bound to serve the Government as 
soldiers or in any other capacity which the law may require. As there is not, and 
cannot be any exemption but tbe one above stated, it is clear beyond all question 
that such allegiance and service is due as well by ' persons held to service and labor 
in a State by the laws thereof,' as by free men white or black. State laws cannot 
absolve the persons so held from their allegiance and duty to the Government under 
the Constitution and laws of the United States, because it is ideclared by the Consti- 
tution, article 6th, clause 2d, ' This Constitution, and the laws of the United States 
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made and which shall be 
made under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land, 
and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution 
or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.' The laws which bind per- 
sons of African descent to service, being State laws, are subordinate to the Consti- 
tution and laws of the United States, and can have no power to withdraw persons 
so held from their allegiance, or shield them from military or other service to the 
United States. This is so clear that to state it is to prove it. 

" Your statement that ' the fundamental idea of all the laws on the statute book 
respecting this matter is, that military service is the great duty of all persons who 
enjoy the protection of, or owe obedience to, the law, the servant as well as the mas- 
ter,' is perfectly correct. I go a step further and say, without the fear of contradiction, 
that under the law authorizing a draft it is the duty of the War Department to order 
the enrollment of slaves and freemen of African descent, as well as white men, in 
order that they may be subject to the draft, and that the laws of the States author- 
izing persons of African descent to be held to service and labor, cannot withdraw 
such persons, if drafted, from the military service of the Government. 

•• The conscription law requires all men within certain ages to be enrolled. There 
is no exception whatever in regard to those who have tlie requisite bodily strength. 
Tlie President is, consequently, as much bound in Isis official character and acts, by 
the Constitution and laws of the United States as he is in his individual character. 
Hamilton on this subject says : ' The power to make laws is the power of pro- 
nouncing authoritatively the will of the nation as to all persons and things over which 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMl.S A. IIAMIITOV. jb'J 

it has jurisdiction, or it may bo defined to be the power of prescribing nilc« binding 
upon all persons and things over Avhich the nation has jiirisdictv.n. It acU com- 
pulsorily upon all persons.' * * * * ^x \.iy,- of tii^ ]a,n]^ jin revoked or : • j 

the competent authority, is binding not less on each brancli or depr-.- ■ ■'„ 

Government than on each individual of Society. Eacli House of ( 
tively, as well as the members of it separately, arc under a constituliona! oblig.iiion 
to observe the injunctions of a preexisting law, and to give it etTect.' 

"Let the President observe the injunctions of the laws on this suhjcot, and pire 
them effect by ordering the enrollment of the slaves for tlio purpose of the draft, 
and directing all enlisting officers to receive as volunteers all persons, including those 
held to service ; blacks as slaves, and whites as apprentices. 

"There is no authority in any officer or dei)artment of tlio (tdvernincnt to de- 
prive any man, black or white, free or slave, of tliC honur of serving liis connlrv in 
this, 'her hour of utmost need,' if by age and physical capacity he is withio tbo 

limits prescribed by law. 

"Your obedient servant, <tc." 

Hugh L. Bond to James A. Hamilton. 

"Baltimore, September 12, 1868. 

" Dear Sir : I desire to return you my sincere thanks for your very able argu- 
ment respecting the enlistment of blacks, free and slave. 

" Aside from the pleasure it gives me, as I suppose it yives every other person, 
to know he is not alone in his opinions, I am doubly pleased that gentlemen of my 
own profession who are wont to look at questions of law uninfluenced by public 
opinion, agree with me in my conclusions. Inclosed, I send you a letttT from our 
Governor which is intended as an answer to the letter which you are pIvumhI to 
approve. 

"I intend to make a short reply to some of the Governor's statements which arc 
local in their application, and to publish your argument in support of my iK^sition. 

"I should be pleased with your consent to omit the last sentciuo of vuur KiWr. 
The argument is complete without it. 

"The government has a right to call upon all persons to bear arms irrosjH-ctiTe 
of their personal obligations, and if they choose to remunerate loyal shivo owucri, 
it is ex gratia^ and not of right. 

" You state in your note that this sentence was put to avoid the objection of ih« 
article in the Intelligencer. That article is insolent, and in the tone which prrvwlwl 

here in days gone by. , 

"Mr. Lincoln's proclamation, too, at least emancipated us Irom tyranny of lb.l 
description, but I did not think it worth wliilo to mar the arijuuicnl ol vour IrtUf 
by that allusion to their article. 

"I shall deal with them in a different manner. 

""With great respect, 

"I am, yours truly." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Salmon V. Ciiask, Secretary of li.e Tre»«ry. 

" Nevis, Donns Feriit V. < »., < > ;■ ' ■- ' ' ' 
"Dear Sir: I had intended for some time to call your atlci.l.uu to ti,- v. ... . 



570 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of this letter, but have delayed doing so by ' the sluggishness of age,' and by tlie 
belief tliat it had already engaged your comprehensive mind, and has most probably 
been moulded into a system of full proportions. 

"I refer to the revenue to be drawn from the mines of precious metals and 
quicksilver. 

" I venture to call your attention to this important and very difficult task, not 
only because through it a vast revenue may be secured to the government, and 
that every year's delay iu bringing the mines and their products under the control 
of the government will render it more difficult to do so ; but because I am solicitous 
that, in addition to your marvellously successful administration of the finances of our 
Country amid such overwhelming difficulties, you should add to your fame the 
crowning glory of having devised such a wise and comprehensive system. This 
will be a mounment of your skill as a financier as enduring as the mines will be. 

" Two points liave occurred as essential. Tirst, that the mineral region shall be 
surveyed, and properly divided into proper allotments, and second, that all persons 
who are now working or may hereafter seek to work the mines, shall be required 
to purchase a plot or parcel of land — the price to be very low, the object of the sale 
not being revenue, but to keep a record of the names and places of all persons 
who may by legal authority be on the lands, and thus to be enabled with facility 
to draw from the product of their labor an annual percentage. 

"Third, That a seigniorage shall be paid yearly on all gold, silver, or quicksilver 
which shall be produced by each purchaser so long as he shall work the mines on 
the plot he has purchased. 

"lam not prepared either by a knowledge of the subject or by skill to suggest 
any particular system of measures to produce adequate and certain results. I re- 
collect having read an article in one of the monthlies, written by the Hon. Eobert 
J. Walker, in which he treats of the proper division of these lands. I think his 
conclusion was that the subdivisions should be very small. 

" If I can be of any service to you on this subject, I hope you will not hesitate 
to command me. 

""With very great respect and regard, 

" Your friend and servant, &c." 

AN ACT TO ABOLISH SLAVERY. 

" WJierens the President of the United States, on the first day of January, 1863, 
as a necessity of war, and in his character of commander-in-chief of the armies of 
the United States, did issue a Proclamation of Freedom to all persons held as slaves 
iu certain States or parts of States therein named — they being iu rebellion against 
the Government and people of the United States, 

" And whereas, the existence of slavery in any part of the United Slates is in 
direct and manifest violation of the sublime principle of liberty on which the Gov- 
ernment of the United States is founded, and whereas the existence of slavery in 
certain States of this Union by the laws thereof has caused and continues the crimi- 
nal rebellion which now threatens the national existence, it has become a matter of 
indispensable necessity on the part of the Cnngress in the exercise of its war powers, 
and in defence of the Constitution of the United States, to abclish slavery. There- 
fore 

" Be it enacted l>y the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assemlled, 
that the condition of slavery is forever abolished within the limits of the United 
States, and that hereafter no person who breathes within the limits of the United 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMl'.S A. HAMILTON. 571 

States and the jurisdiction of the Constitution can be a slave, an.l ilmi nil l«w. of 
States which establish or authorize any person to bo held to s«t\' ■ t 

other person are illegal, void, and of no etfect, as well because tb. • 'i 

principle of liberty in which the system of Government of tlio rnitc; .f 

the respective States is founded, as because no law can rightfully exisi »i,.,u g >« 
to one man property in another, 

" And be it further enacted^ That all persons of Afiican descent, wl,.. . j 

and by the proclamation of the President made free, sluill staml bcfor.- ■ . .:•.« 
and be considered and treated therein as entitled to full and conipleto prot.-clir>n in 
their |x?rsons and property as any white person does or can bo considi-n-d and !r. aUiI. 
and that hereafter the crime of slavery and all its conseiiucnccs to lhu'>c wl.o wcr« 
heretofore held as slaves, is obliterated and forever destroyed." 

James A. Hamilton, to His Excellency John A. Am>i;kw, Governor of 
the State of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass. 

"DoBBS Feuuy p. 0., December 19, Iho.i. 

"My Deae Sir: I had the honor to receive your letter of tJie 16tb in-tt. in 
due course of mail, in which you are pleased to refer in very flattering term* to my 
suggestions on public alfairs. 

"There is another amendment of the Constitution to whidi I invito your atten- 
tion : we ought to take advantage of the present state of public opinii»n and feel- 
ing, to make the Constitution what the most skilled of its builders vrisbe*! it to b«, 
but in which they were thwarted by the arrogance and selfishncfs of tbo S«iolh. 
The concessions to which I refer are familiar to you. 

" First.— IhQ slave trade for (20) twenty years. 

" Second.— T\iQ fugitive slave clause (allow me to say, that in tlie draft of the 
constitution in my father's handwriting, which I have, there is the cl:i -'le 

rendition of fugitives from justice, in the very language of the •xisling C-,^... n, 

but there is no fugitive slave clause). 

" Third.— ThQ inhibition of duties upon exports. 

" I wish, by amendment, to rescind the last; duties upon exports arc, under cer- 
tain circumstances, as fit and profitable sources of revenue .-is upon import.*. 

" As a general rule, the consumer pays the duty ; under this rule it is notorioo. 
that the people of the free States pay almost all the import duties, becnuso thej ar« 
essentially the consumers. The slaves do not, nor do the poor white tra>l. i-on.ume 
imported articles, except the latter, tea and coffee. 

" The rich slave-holders consume a portion, but by no means as Inrgrly »» the 
same class of the North. It would not be ine-pntable to impose an c^-ort dut/ oo 
cotton, tobacco, and rice, and by-and-by on su-ars. ^ _^ 

"The efi-ect of such a duty upon cotton, independent ot it. advanf. 
Treasury, would be to shield our cotton manufacturers from fin' h'" «■''• 

price of capital of Great Britain. . „; „ .„.i in a 

" The difi-erences of price by the amount of duty would bo a protcouon. anJ .n • 
manner less obnoxious to free trade than any other. I am anxious . 
American manufacturers every advantage wliich will enable them t ■ _ 
those of England, not only because we shall become. «-s Jao m>o M.d. 
pendent,' bu^ I know that in no way can wo strike so J^-" « »^ o"/ 
gant people as by becoming competitors with them in t-'O" ^U , f ^ 

"The governing classes of England liave wished, and .. f-». 



572 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

they have promoted the divisions of our country, in order to secure their manufac- 
turers from this competition. The South would liave imposed an export duty upon 
cotton, &c., and would have received the manufactured articles at a low scale of 
duties, and then distributed them through the great rivers of the "West, of which they 
would control the mouths, into tlie great western countries, where the b^st market 
of the Eastern manufacturers were to be found, and thus a protective policy would 
he impossible." 

James A. Hamilton to Samuel B. Ruggles, Esq., New York. 

" Nevis, Dobbs Fkrey P. 0., January 7, 1864. 
" Deae Sir: I have learned with pleasure from the following extract that ac- 
tion has been taken by the Chamber of Commerce of Philadelphia and New York in 
favor of amending the Constitution so as to allow Congress to levy export duties. 

"Duties on Exports." The Secretary then read the report of the Executive 
Committee, to whom had been referred the resolutions of the Philadelphia Cham- 
ber of Commerce, in regard to memorializing Congress in favor of an amendment 
of the Constitution so as to permit the levying of duties on exports. 

"Incorporated in the Keport was a resolution concurring in substance with 
the views of the Philadelphia Board. 

" Mr. Kuggles moved an amendment to the resolution to the effect that the sub- 
ject should be brought with promptness before the present Congress. 

" The question being first upon the adoption of the Committee's Report, was 
duly put to vote and carried. In regard to Mr. Ruggles's amendment, Mr. Cooper 
moved tliat it lie over until the next meeting. 

" On the 19th ultimo, I addressed a letter to Governor Andrew, in which after 
referring to the amendment to abolish slavery, I said : ' There is another amend- 
ment of the Constitution to which I invite your attention : we ought to take advan- 
tage of the present condition of public opinion and feeling to make the Constitution 
what the most skilled of its builders wished it to be ; but in which they were 
thwarted by the arrogance and selfishness of the South. 

" ' The concessions to which I refer are famUiar to you : 1st, The slave trade for 
twenty years; 2d, The fugitive slave clause (allow me to say that in the draft in my 
father's handwriting, which I have, there was a clause for the rendition of fugitives 
from justice iu the very language of the existing Constitution, but tliere is no fugitive 
slave clause) ; and 3d, The inhibition of duties on exports ; such duties are under ce-r- 
tain circumstances as proper sources of revenue as upon imports.' 

" The South insisted either that all laws regulating commerce should be passed 
by a two third (|) vote, or that the power to lay duties upon exports should be for- 
bidden to Congress, tlireatening unless this and the slavery clause were yielded, they 
would not adopt the Constitution. 

" The amendment first in importance is to abolish slavery. The next is to ex- 
punge from Article 1, Section 9, and Clause 5, the words ' no tax or duty shall be 
levied on articles exported from any State.' The language of Section 8, Clauses 1 
and 2, Article 1, ' The Congress shall have power to levy and collect taxes, duties, 

imposts, and excises, are sufficiently comprehensive to authorize import as well as 

export duties.' 

^ " The most effectual proceeding to this end would be, to prepare a petition, which 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMKS A. HAMILTON. 573 

you can do better than any other man, and to eau.o it to bo printed, and circaltU.! 
for signatures all over the cou-try, with printed direction, at foot, tl.at wl.en «fl,«d 
It should be enclosed to a member of Congress. In tins way, I bcdiovo, a mlllioD of 
signatures could be obtained in a short time. 

" The rule as to duties is, that the consumer pays the tax (there are cxcci.tloD.. 
The import duties are mainly paid by the people of the freo State:*; tho save, ar* 
not consumers, and poor white trash consume very little; and tho .slave!>olJvr»do 
not consume to the same extent as do Northern men who have the same amuunt of 
income. 

" The export duty on cotton would be a great encouragement to our manuficto- 
ries. The aggregate value of domestic exports for the fiscal year eudin;: June, 1861, 
was over $228,000,000, one per cent, ou this would yield a .sum of tweutv-two mil- 
lioDs of dollars. 

"I intend to suggest to the Secretary of the Treasury to intimate that such an 
amendment would add greatly to the revenue, and advise it to bo made. 

" I write to you without intending to do more than touch upon the subject. 
" "With great respect and regard, your obedient servant." 

James A, Hamilton to Hon. Lucius Robinson, Coraptrollcr. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferkt V. O., May 2. ISW. 

"My Deab Sir: Your letter of tho 30th ultimo was received today. On 
Thursday last, I went to the city and conferred with gentlemen on the euhject of 
your correspondence, and was convinced that there was, then, a dtvp sense of t!io 
integrity in the State, and di-satisfaction with the Legisluturo in refusinp to provide 
for the payment of the interest on the Public Debt in coin, and that a strong dotire 
then existed to do something to secure the credit of the State. 

" Your very full and satisfactory letter indnces me to fear that the ileniKra'i/.nion 
of our public men is deeper and more extended tlian I liad supjioscd. Wlmi arc w« 
coming to? However, let us not despair of the repnblic, but remember tliat Plato 
' enjoins every virtuous citizen to rescue the State from the usurpation of n ico and 
ignorance.' 

" I will take an opportunity again to see some of the intelligent capitalist.'^ in 
New York on the subject. 

" I have great pleasure in learning that you had the patriotism and riong« in 
1863 to take the responsibility of paying in coin the interest of tlio puMic debt. 
" I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, ic." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, House of Rcpnacntalirci, 

Washington, D. C. 

".Inly 1, 18**. 
" Dear Sir: I beg leave to call your attention to an act of Congn-M of an early 
date, of a most disgraceful character : I mean that which lop.alizoi th-- '* 

slave trade, in the hope that you will introduce a bill to repeal th^ ■•■■■ " 

Act of March 2d, 1807, see Gordon's digcst.of the laws of tho I'mt. . 
and 624, articles 3120 and 3121. 

"This section declares that tho captain of a vessel saihufe' coaitwm, l.-.n: avj 



574 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

port of the United States, to any port or place within the jurisdiction of the same, 
having any negro, mulatto, &c., for the purpose of transporting them to he sold or dis- 
posed of as slaves, ' shall previous to departure make a manifest &c.' I need not 
copy the residue. 

" You will, I believe, find that this law, giving security to this infamous trathe, 
was passed to take eifect on the day (January 1st, 1808) when the foreign slave trade 
was forbidden, and thus to aid in the supply of slaves by domestic trading to the 
States cut off from the foreign production. 

" The accursed slave-holders took advantage of the desire of the North to pro- 
hibit the foreign, to induce them to sanction the domestic trade. The 7th section 
of the Act of March 2d, 1807, prohibits the foreign trade, and the 9th section of the 
same act sanctions by regulating the domestic, from and after January 1st, 1808. 

" The duties of the Congress of which you are a member will, I am sure, be ardu- 
ous, and perhaps more useful and important than those of any former Congress. 

" My best wishes personally and especially always attend you. 

" I have the honor to be, with respect and regard, 

" Your obedient servant." 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase to James A. Hamilton. 

"Washington, July 9, 1804. 

My Dear Sir : Receive my gratitude for your very kind note, as well as for 
the early assistance and constant friendship with which you have honored me. 

" I have been called ambitious, but I desire no office except as an opportunity 
for useful work, and will not retain one a moment at the expense of honor or duty." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. "W. P. Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasurj, 

New York. 

"DoBBS Ferry P. O., July 10, 1864. 

" Dear Sir : I congratulate you that you have been appointed, and the country 
that you have accepted the office of Secretary of the Treasury, because I am sure you 
are master of the situation, difficult as it is. Delicacy to you restrains the expression 
of my well settled opinion on this subject. 

" I am anxious to serve you in any way in my power, and therefore write this 
note to say that of all men in New York, the most competent man for Mr. Cisco's 
place (Assistant Treasurer) is Mr. Moses Taylor. 

" With sincere regard and respect, your friend, J. A. II. 

"P. S. I am compelled by the condition of the times to say that I do not seek, 
and would not receive any office or favor from the Government. Yours." 

THE CHICAGO PLATFORM AND THE NOMINATION. 
General McClellan has been urged to accept the nomination and repudiate the 
platform ; to do so would be an act of personal as well as political dishonor. That 
I)latforni was adopted with great unanimity, and he was nominated in the fullest 
confidence that he entirely approved the public measures it declared were demand- 
ed by the public interest ; and by his nomination tiie convention gave the highest 
pledge that Gen. McClellan, if elected, would make immediate efforts "for a cessation 



REMINISCENCES OP JAMES A. IIAMIITON. 575 

of hostilities" with a view to an xiUimate convention of all the Stntcs or 
peaceable means to the end, that at the earliest practicable moment peace m 
restored. 

The convention which framed, and those who adopt and support tbi^ : ' •' 
and General McClellan if he accepts the nomination, cnconra-^'o tlio trnit or , 

to contiane the war, thus giving '• aid and comfort to the enemy" which, if not dcIu»!, 
is certainly moral treason. 

It is not to be believed that a Mnjor-General in the army of the United St«lc» 
can be capable of such unworthy conduct. 

September G, 1864. 

James A. Hamilton to Col. McKay, >.'e\v York. 

"November 2.'5, 18'>4. 

"Deak Sik: I sought you yesterday to conf-jr with yoa on the subject of this 
letter, and to make arrangements to meet with you and one or two other efficient, 
practical, and ardent emancipationists. 

" At the last session of the present Congress, a resolution to amend the Consti- 
tution to abolish slavery was passed in the Senate by the constitutional number of 
of two thirds (|). In the House of Representatives it wanted eleven votes of that 
number ; that resolution is still pending in the Ilunsc, and may be taken up nt any 
time. 

" In the next Congress to meet at its regular session, on the first Monday of 
December, 1865 (one year hence), there will be a constitutiimal number in ench 
House to pass such a resolution. Of the Legisl.ituros to assemble this ^ ' re 

are more than three fourths the constitutional number who will adopt si; ;.><> 

lution. 

" These bodies, however, will not he called to act upon such a resolution of the 
Congress which will meet in December, 1865. As to those bodies, there U always 
danger of changes. In addition, it may be said to be most probaMo that Wforc tlie 
winter of 1865 and 'G6 several, if not all the States in rLbellion, will lay down their 
arms and send members to Congress, and having returned to their duty of allegiance, 
their Legislatures will vote against the proposed amendment, and thus it may be 
defeated. 

" Under these circumstances, not a moment of time should be lost which can b* 
usefully employed in the great work of abolishing slavery, nud to that end, it i» 
vastly important that every thing should be done without delay to etloct this vital 
change. 

" The question now arises : What can be done ? I answer, ^rir»t, the resolution 
now pending in the House should be called up without delay, in ordor. if njectcJ, 
to prove that all our dependence is upon the next Congress, and immcdiatoiy to tak« 
measures to induce the President to call an extra session <.f Congn-s-s to mo*-t on 
the 4th of March nest. . 

" By what measures can that be accomplished ? I answer, /«/. by wdunng iht 
Legislatures of those States known to be in favor of such .nmcndmcnt to j >• 

tions advising the President to call an extra sesMon of Con;.To-. nn.. at • 

time declaring their readiness to adopt such a resolution ot am.ndmoni, .i 

to them. , . 

-Second, By meetings of the people in the States, and var.-.u. part, el tor 
States, to pass resolutions invoking the President to m.ako sue!) •» •• * 



576 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

"This is a great, and in my judgment, an imperious duty. It will require the 

concert in action of earnest and patriotic men throughout the country. 

" I submit these questions to the earnest consideration of yourself and such others 

as you may choose. 

" With sincere regard, your friend." 

Benjamin D. Silliman to James A. Hamilton. 

" December 19, 1864. 
" Mt Dear Sib : I hope that the republication and extended circulation of your 
excellent address to naval cadets will not be long postponed. 

" The exposition of the history and nature and effect of the Constitution is as 
valuable as it is admirable ; it will be prized by those who are well informed, and 
will instruct the many who erroneously suppose themselves to be so. 

"Eespectfiilly and sincerely yours." 

Hon. Charles Sumner to James A. Hamilton. 

" Senate Chamber, December 22, 1864. 
"My Dear Sir: I feel the force of your suggestions as to the Bankrupt Bill. I 
am receiving letters about almost every day ; the desire fur its passage seems to 
be general, and it is a good Bill, though not too good to be made better. 

" The Constitutional Amendment will come up on the 10th of January, and 
leading men of the House have strong hopes of success. 

" If not done this session, an extra session, as you suggest, will have to be called. 

" Faithfully yours." 

James A. Hamilton to the President or the U. S., Washington, D. C. 

"DoBBs Ferry P. O., January 14, 1865. 
"Dear Sib: Assuming that Mr. Fessenden is to leave the Treasury on the 4th 
of March next, I take the liberty to suggest to you that his excellency John "W". 
Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts, is the most competent man in the country, 
next to the present incumbent, for that place. Governor Andrews' intellec- 
tual vigor, his extensive acquirements, his energy and singular aptitude for adapta- 
tion will enable him most readily to overcome all the difHculties of that most 
laborious and responsible ofhce. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

" Your friend and obd't serv't." 

Samuel B. Ruggles to James A. Hamilton. 

" January 14, 1865. 
"My DEAR Sir: I beg to thank you for your very acceptable and instructive 
letter of the 9th inst. on the subject of amending the Constitution, by permitting a 
tax or duty on exports, and am glad to hear that you have occupied your mind 
with the subject. You may have seen by the newspapers that our Chamber of 
Commerce have had the matter under consideration, on the application of the Board 
of Trade of Philadelphia, to unite with them in memorializing Congress on the sub- 
ject. At the last meeting of the Chamber, it was thought most discreet to postpone 
any movement in the matter until after Congress should have finally disposed of the 
pending proposition to abolish slavery. For that purpose, the subject was postponed, 



KEMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 577 

by general consent, until the regular monthly mooting on the fimt U.-^Ur .f 
February next ; meanwhile I truly hope that you will do what you can . . „ 

the Secretary of the Treasury, and the members of Congrcs. to cduc.to U^ ] 
little m advance. •"«« ■ 

_ "A duty on exports, including cotton, breadstuflV, provision,, and !,.'-..'.„« 
might be made to yield from fifty to a hundred millions yearly, and the ,! 
commerce, and manufoctures of the country to a corresponding extent, h i. th. 
more necessary to obtain such a measure of relief, wlicn wo perceive h.. 
we are drifting into bankruptcy, State debt for soldiers' bounties (whid. : ./r 

receive), and its consequent grievous load of taxation. 

" I shall take your letter with me to Washington, and sliall venture to show it to 
some of the Members of Congress. 

" Whenever I have had an opportunity to bring this amendment to the attontion 
of leading men in Washington, it has been [done ; but, I re-ret to say, without tho 
least success." 

James A. Hamilton to His Excellency R. E. Fextox, Governor of the Stale 

of New York. 

"DoBBs Feret p. 0., February 1, 1865. 

" Sir : I take the liberty to suggest that the importance of tho resolution p«*<«<l 
by Congress yesterday, to amend the Constitution of tho United States by abolishing 
slavery, calls upon you to announce the fact by a special messnge to the I,.'gislator« 
of the State now in session, and to urge its adoption. 

" I hope you will pardon this my intrusion by imputing it to my wij«h that oor 
State should have the honor of being the first to give its sanction to thin mcararv, 
which will be praised throughout the world as the best evidence of our wiso statcA- 
manship and our high Christian civilization. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, yoara, Ac." 

James A. Hamilton to George W. Blcnt. 

"DoBBs Ferry P. 0., Febru.ary 7, l*^"" 

"Dear Sir: The inclosed printed copy of my correspondonco in rd;*'' ■ 
reinforcement of the forts in Charleston harbor, cognate to the paper \> 
paring for publication, presents additional proof of tho imbecility of Vt\ • 
Buchanan. Your paper is of great importance ; it will bo very useful aC t i. 

The failure of the negotiation indicates a new point of departur.-, n- ' •' 
North must nerve ourselves to a much more desperate Jtruggle : 
issue is fairly made up— the independence of tho South, or their .- >o by 

conquest. Your statement of facts will awaken the intelligent ami r- f 

the North, of all parties, to the imbecility of our high oflir. ' ' 
Some of them are in higher places. Tlius exposed, thoy will be ■ ^ • 

driven to yield their places to men who have clearer porceptiona rf fh 
issue, and are therefore prepared to sustain that energetic policy by w: 
the national life can be preserved. 

" As your paper will bo universally received and road with jrroat Jntm^^t. .; . 
of vast importance that it should be prepared with tl.o (frcntost r.1rx^ .\ • 
perspicuous statement of your facts and circumstances, with i 

37 



578 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

of the course of the conspiracy, the public stations and characters of the principal 
men engaged in it, will show what an egregious folly it was to expect that the 
wayward Sisters would shortly return to their allegiance. This belief ' dictated 
General Scott's letter to the President, written after a conference with Mr. Seward, 
who induced the latter to believe in the termination of the war in sixty or ninety 
days, to speak of treason in arms as a disturbance, and the traitors as our ' honored 
brothers ;' and induced another member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, as I have been in- 
formed, to urge Mr, Sumner to go to New York, call a meeting of the citizens, and 
urge them to pass resolutions in favor of disunion. 

" I hope the work will be prepared with the utmost deliberation. There is no 
reason for haste. If I can aid you I will do so with the greatest pleasure. 

" Your friend, &c.'" 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, 

"Washington, D. C. 

• " November 3d, 1865. 

" Sir : I have the honor to direct your attention, as perhaps useful in connection 
with the discussion now in progress between the United States and Great Britain, in 
relation to neutral rights and duties, to a letter written by Alexander Hamilton by 
a 'command from' President Washington, dated August 4th, 1793 (3d vol. Wori:3 of 
Hamilton, page 374). 

" I hope it will not be deemed intrusive to suggest, that the greatest amount of 
loss we have sustained, as a direct consequence and a meditated purpose of those 
piracies, was the destruction of our carrying trade. "We lost thereby one thousand 
vessels, and five hundred thousand tons; and, of course, an immense amount of 
freight. To illustrate this : before thase vessels were on the ocean, the imports at 
New York in American vessels, in 1860, amounted to $62,598,326 ; in foreign vessels, 
$23,404,051. In 1863, the amount in American vessels was $23,403,830, and in 
foreign vessels $65,889,058. 

" This discussion on our part has certainly been conducted with dexterity and 
wisdom ; and yet it is feared by many that its continuance may place us in a posi- 
tion from which we cannot retreat without dishonor; whereas, on the other hand, 
should we bide our time, as we may wisely do, under the sure conviction that, should 
war become imminent between Great Britain and a continental power, she would 
pay all our claims, in order to avoid that retaliation which her contraversions would 
justify on our part. 

*' I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant." 

James A. Hamilton to the Hon." Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, Washington, D. C. 

"Nevis, Dobbs Ferry P. 0., November 13, 1865. 

" Sir : Without having the honor of your personal acquaintance, in obedience to 
my sense of duty, I address this letter to you in relation to our financial affairs. 

" First. — It is believed that it would be useful to suggest to Congress to pass a 
law under which the public lands may be made available for the payment of the 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMKS A. HAMILTON. ^19 

public debt. This may be done in the shape of rents or roT,.lty n. »'- - 

suggested in his report (page 16), thus: Require every pcr8,>„ wL'- 

dred and sixty acres of land (at the same rate for a greater or 1cm q,un- 

the Homestead Law, to pay one dollar at the end of tlio first year i«o . 

second year, and so on, increasing the payment one dolhir every year v.- • '• * 

debt is paid ; but not to extend beyond thirty (30) year?, cxeinptin • 

all other taxation during that term of years. The Treasury would thus rccelr.. m 

the end of thirty years, for one hundred and sixty acres oV land, the Mun of U^ 

(one hundred and sixty acres at $1.00 per acre); and intere>t, at six pr- - - - ■ .., 

annum, would amount to $448. This payment, for tlie first ten years, v ■ ,o 

inconsiderable as not to embarrass the cultivator in the lta>t. 

" A not unimportant resuit of this plan would be, that as the pnymcntn are to 
cease as soon as the debt is paid, there would he a numerous body ,'.f men i •' 
new Stiites having a common interest in the payment of the iiul)Iic debt, wl, 
presentatives in Congress would be urgent to maintain or increa.«e t-ixation to which 
their constituents would not be subject in order to hasten that result. 

"The sinking fund, if applied to the purcliase of the debt, as provi.!. ' ' •',« 
Act of 26th February, 1862, will pay off any amount of debt in thirty-; -* 

and four months. 

" Second. — I beg leave to suggest tliat tlie iron mannfacturer sliould be rriieretl 
from taxation upon the raw material, and upon the several articles he miv u^<., 
which have been before taxed. Ilis burdens under the existing iiit«;raal rcvtnu* 
system are so great as to deprive him of adequate protection under the Uriff. 

" Third. — Impose a duty on hoop-skirts of one dollar each (parts of tbeso skirts 
are now taxed by name — repeal these taxes). There are in the V'. ' ' - x 

least ten millions of females who use these skirts (the richer portion . ,„f 

three). There would thus be received an annual revenue of ten million* t]olliir«. 
As the laws of fashion are more imperative than any other laws, tlie ndditiot. 
of one dollar each would not diminish the use of this article of dress. 



THE REDEMPTION OF THE LEGAL TENDER NOTES. 

" Mr. John D. Van Buren's published letter, addressed to you on thi- 

has deservedly attracted much attention, as well from itsgonoral interest .. 

he has carried into the discussion much practical knowledge and wis-.lom. 

" To raise these notes up to the par of gold, rather than to withdmr them, U 
not very difficult. It will secure to the country tlie best circulation in •' 'I, 

and it will avoid that dire commercial convulsion which would nc(VH«uri . . « 

severe contraction. In the existing condition of our country, particularlj from il>« 
desolation of the South, and the consequent necessity of supplying cijjbt i 4 

people there with food, and all the necessaries inoifd^-nt to civilization . « 

of luxuries), including a circidating medium, it appears to mo that, > r 

hundred and fifty millions of legal tender notes and three hundrvd Hulhoo. o/ 
national bank notes be raised to the par of gold, there would not bo • 

currency. 

"Mr Van Buren proposes in order to obtain the pol.l fund of ono h«; 
fifty millions of dolhu-s, as follows: First, That the Internal IJcvcnuo U i»«J* «f. 
ficient to meet all the expenses of the Government, and to i-oy all .U loUr^ iaci*!- 



580 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

ing that whicli is payable in gold — the interest now jiayable in gold to be paid in 
paper, adding the premium on gold at the time of payment. 

"This mode of paying the interest now payable in gold, it is believed, would be 
found to be a bungling proceeding and quite unnecessary. The Government having 
command of the necessary funds to pay the amount of interest and premium, could 
better purchase and pay the interest in gold. There is, however, another and an 
insuperable objection to this part of his plan. 

"He says, second, That the whole of the customs revenue for the next tvro years, 
payable as now in gold, be pledged to the redemption of the legal tender notes. 

"To give this pledge would be of no value, because it necessarily involves a 
palpable violation of a previous pledge given by Congress in relation to that fund. 

" The Act passed 2Gth February, 1862, § 5, declares that all the duties on im- 
ported goods shall be paid in coin, * * * and the coin so paid shall be set apart as 
a special fund, and i-hall be applied as follows: 'First, to the payment in coin of 
the interest on the bonds, &c. ; second, to the purchase and payment of one per 
centum of the entire debt of the United States to be made within each fiscal year ' 
* * * ' which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the interest of which shall in 
like manner be applied to the payment or purchase of the public debt. Third, The 
residue thereof to be paiil into the Treasury of the United States.' 

" This is as clear and distinct a pledge to the holders of the bonds of the United 
Srates as language can express. First, that the coin so received is to be set apart, 
and applied to the payment of their interest, and, second, that of the coin so received 
an amount equal to one per centum of the entire debt of the United States shall be 
set apart, and applied from year to year to the purchase or payment of the principal 
of the debt, and as an additional security for the faithful application to these two 
purposes, the amonnt of coin necessary to that end does not go into the Trensnry, 
because the third clause' declares that ' the residue of the coin so received shall be 
paid into the Treassry.' 

" The clear interpretntion of this Act is, that in respect to the amount of the 
interest and the sinking fund, the coin so received is set apart as a special fund for 
these express purposes, and is not to be considered or treated as in the Treasury ; 
and consequently not to be reached by any appropriation, or used by the Treasury 
Department as means to be applied to ordinary expenses, or to meet any exigency 
whatever — tlie residue only being carried into the Treasury by a •warrant, can be so 
used. 

" In connection with this subject, it is worthy of remark that your predecessor 
in his annual report (page 16) being unwilling, as is supposed, in the exercise of the 
duties of his office, to seem to violate the express injunction of law, suggested to 
Congress to consider whether some legislation postponing for a time the operation 
of the provisi(m referred to, and designating a board of officers as commissioners of 
the Sinking Fund under proper regulations, might not be advisable. * * * * Such 
legislation would, at least show that the provision for a Sinking Fund is not intended 
to remain a dead letter on the statute book. 

" As Congress did not think proper to do anything on that subject, it maybe 
supposed they intended and expected that the act of 26th Februnry, 1SC2, should 
govern the Treasury in its disposition of the coin received from imposts, ' as soon as 
the unnatural condition of affiiirs should terminate.' 

" The fund required (150 millions) to float the four hundred and fifty millions of 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 5S1 

legal tenders can be obtained without a violation of tho i)lcilpcn to iho ! ;' 

the bonds. The interest payable in gold is about sixty-fivo millionji. Onv 
of the capital of the gold bearing debt amounts to about cloven million*, maxi:.^ * 
total of seventy-sis millions. 

"The amount of coin to be received from duties this fiscal ycnr rannot be !«•• 
than two hundred and twenty-six millions, wliicli will leave a 'rcBidiio' to U> trt 
apart of al)0ut one hundred and fifty millions, and thns tlie intort'st and .sinV ■ \ 
in gold will be preserved, and the redemption fund ho secured beyond nil 
ture ; but, above all, the public faith of our country Avill Lo preserved imii: .» 

it has been heretofore. 

'•In this connection, pardon me for fuither intruding upon you by ^ 

that now is the time to make full and solid provision for tlio [Kiytncnt of th . ,:, 

and for a sinking fund wljich will secure the payment of tho wliolo debt witbin a 
limited period. 

" The American Funding System established in 1791, paid oil the cngrc debt of 
the Revolution, and of the war of 1812. Thus it accomplisbed what no f*lhor 
nation has ever done, paid its debts. The great characteristics of that system were 
First, To constitute a fund sufficient in every suppusablo event for cxtingruiitliinf; the 
whole debt of the United States in a period not exceeding thirty (3f>_) year-*. S>'..nd, 
To fix its destination unchangeably by not only appropriating it permanently uitdcr 
the direction of commissioners, and vesting it in them as property in trust, bnt by 
making its faithful application a part of the contract witli creditori. 

"Experience has shown in countries the most attentive to tho pr' ••( 

credit, that a simple appropriation of tho sinking fund is not n compl. ;■ ..,.vr 
against its being diverted when immediate exigencies press. Such lin-t l«»»-r; oqr 
course during tlie last three years, excused, doubtless, by tlio pressing ex of 

our condition ; but in addition to the experience referred toby tho Secrctarv ul" Oie 

Treasury in 1795, we refer to the course of Great Britain and its ■- •■ - -■« a 

fearful warning. Mr. Vansittart, Chief Secretary of tlio E\ . . % 

destroyed the progressive force of the Sinking Fund by diverting all the dividend* 
of the Stock theretofore received, to the current expenses of the year inst r. 

ing it, according to Mr. Pitt's plan, for the redemption of tho public J.-,.. ..-^-o 
Bristed's Resources of the United States, page 90.) 

" The efi'ect of this abandonment of the system, has been th.nt the debt of Grvat 
Britain has not, during the last fifty years, been diminished. 

" Lord Palmerston, in 18G5, in a speech in tlio House of Coni;n.. 

Mr, Gladstone's successful administration of the Finances, said : ' ^^ e . 

in making, for the first time, some noteworthy impression on ll.e public debt, W !••» 

good reason can there be for not adopting in all its part, tho Fundmg ^^»»*«»^*•f 

1791, and applying it to our whole dcbt?-a Sinking Fund ot •• 

amount of the debt, and as much more from time to time as the - . ' 

enue will permit to be carried to the credit of Commissioners (l..gho(n.vr, of Ih. 

Government) in trust, for the purchase or payment of tho whole publ.o debt. ^ 

" General Washington gave his sanction to that system. Mr 
tary, in his report of 1802, said that the actual revenues ot the I 
to defray all the expenses, civil and military, of tho Govenunont to .ho extent . ^ 
ized by existing laws to meet all the engagements of the C.ovcr 
charge in fifteen and a half years (15!) the whole of our puui. u.... - • Mr. 



582 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

Jefferson, thee President, addressed a letter to Mr. Gallatin, dated April 1, 1802, 
saying, ' I have read and considered your report on the operation of the sinking 
fund, and entirely approve it as the best plan on which we can set out.' Again 
Mr. Jefferson, in a letter dated June 24, 1813, to Mr. John W. Eppes, a member of 
Congress, says : ' It is a wise rule, and should be fundamental in a Government 
disposed to cherish its credit, and, at the same time, to restrain the use of it within 
the limits of its faculties, never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax at the same 
instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within a given term, and 
to consider that tax as pledged to the creditors on the public faith.' 

" With this approval of experience, and of all the distinguished men of all parties 
of the country, is there any good reason why this successful system should not be 
readopted and reinforced ? 

" Experience is the oracle of truth, and when its responses are unequivocal, they 
ought to be conclusive and sacred. 

"J have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant." 

James A. Hamilton to Hon. E. D. Morgan, Senator, &c., Washington, D. C. 

"DoBBS Feeey, December 9, 1865. 

" My Deae Sie : A very wise and patriotic letter addressed to you by Mr. Thur- 
low Weed in January, 1864, earnestly urging the appropriation of the public lands 
to the payment of our public debt by repealing the Homestead law, prompts us 
to suggest to you a process by which that immense fund may be appropriated to the 
debt without touching the law, or all impairing its efficiency in settling our public 
domain. 

'' Pass a law requiring every person who takes 160 acres under that law, to exe- 
cute a bond to the United States to pay one dollar the first year, ($2) two dollars 
the second year, ($3) three dollars the third year, ($4) four dollars the fourth year, 
and so on, Increasing the payment by one dollar every year for 32 years, (or until 
the existing public debt shall be paid, not to exceed 32 years) ; the amount so received 
to be applied to the purchase or payment of the principal of the public debt; the 
purchaser to be exempt from all taxes on his land (general. State, or county), so long 
as the public debt continues unpaid, and at the same rate for a less or greater 
number of acres. By tliis process, if the payment continue for 32 years, the general 
Government will be paid, at the end of 32 years (as per foot note),* $537 dollars, 









*Ann 


UAL 


Payments. 








1st year. . 


...$1 


lUh vear. 


..$11 


21 


st year. . . 


821 


31st year. . 


■ .$31 


etc. 


2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
1 
8 
9 
10 

$55 


etc. 


12 
13 
14 
15 
16 

18 
19 
20 

$155 




etc. 


22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
2-7 
28 
29 
30 

$255 


etc. 


32 
$G3=|528 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 583 

which is equivalent to a sale of 160 acres of land, at $1.25 tho acre with »■ 
at five per cent, per acre, viz.: ' 

160 acres of land at f 1.25 per acre, equal to |ooo oo 

Interest at five per cent, for 32 years 300 o<j 

|.')20 00 
Amount of annual payments |528 00 

" In a pecuniary view, this would be important, but tliere is another c< • 
of this arrangement, which no statesman can be indifferent to sccnre, Tlie paUie 
credit unimpaired is our first duty. This project would secure a largo claw whr>«« 
pecuniary interests would be greatly promoted by the earliest paynu-nt i/'V ' '!; 

they would be most anxious that all the taxation necessary to that end .- \i9 

regularly iuforced, and that the resources of the Government should Ik5 anpnentci. 
and consequently their Eepresentatives would be required to use all their influence to 
promote this end. 

" The payment of these small annual sums, and particularly during tho fint t«o 
years, would be so unimportant as not to be at all burdeiisoiuc. 

" In regard to the heavy taxation necessary for several years, we mast look earn- 
estly at the probable future condition of parties. There will bo a large Soulhertj 
representation whose constituents will consider their burdens, if not a* •< • • • ^''j, 
certainly as a grievous wrong. These men will be apt to unite with the il <!• 

of the North, who will, to obtain political power, hold out to the people the expec- 
tation of being relieved from taxation. Mr. John Van Uuren's s[>occh at Auburn 
during the late canvass is a type of what will be done on this subject. 

"It was truly said by an illustrious statesman, ' A nation is never t<> ro^>Ut« ita 
conduct by remote possibilities or mere contingencies, but by such probnbllitJe* M 
may reasonably be inferred from the existing course of things, and the t:- " 
of human affairs.' Surely, it is not only pos»iblc but highly probable that .. 
and vigorous attempts will be made to raise a popular clamor against taxing lb« 
fruits of labor to pay interest to the capitalists who hold the bonds. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your friend, d:c." 

Senator Morgan to James A. Hamilton, by bis Secretary. 

"WAsniNOTON, D. C, Decern ber 14. 18C5. 

« My Dear Sie : Senator Morgan directs me to acknowledge tlu 
favor of the 9th inst., and in reply thereto to say that he h.-un re:... ... - 

carefully noted its contents, and that he deems the plan adv..nccd by roa for r^- 
izing from the public lands a fund to be appropriate*! to the .; 
public debt, in many of its features, to be a very fea.s.hle a.ul pra 

will be taken into consideration by him, not alone for its n.or.t.^ ^ •• ^ , , 

ent, but also for the reason that it has emanated from ..no known to I 
versant with matters of public interest and welfare, and anx.ou.. to M .0 
some at least of the many questions of national iniportanco nuir <• 
minds of all good and loyal men." 

The following paper was prepared by James A. Hamilton, «nd a c 
to President Andrew Johnson, in 18GG : 



584 REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. HAMILTON. 

MALICIOUS FALSEHOODS OF THE SO-CALLED CONFEDERATE GOVERN- 
MENT AND THE DEGREES OF ITS CRIMINALITY. 

"On the 13th of Octoher, 18G2, the following Act was passed and approved by 
Jefferson Davis : 

" Wliereas^ manifestly with the knowledge and concurrence of the Federal Gov- 
ernnient, and for tlie purpose of destroying the credit and circulation of the Treas- 
ury notes of this Government, immense amounts of spurious or counterfeit notes, 
purporting to be such Treasury notes, have been fabricated and advertised for sale in 
the enemy's country, f.nd have been brought into these States, and put in circulation 
by persons in the employ of the enemy, 

' The Congress, &c., do enact that every person in the service of, or adhering to, 
the enemy, vrho shall pass, or offer to pass, any such spurious or counterfeit note or 
notes as aforesaid, or shall sell or attempt to sell the same, or shall bring such 
notes into the Confederate States, or shall have any such note or notes in his posses- 
sion with intent to pass or sell the same, shall, if captured, be put to death by bang- 
ing, and every commissioned officer of the enemy who shall permit auy'offence 
mentioned in this sectit)n to be committed by any person under his authority, shall 
be put to death by hanging. Approved, October 13, 1862. (See Statutes at Large, 
p. 80.) 

" This false and malicious recital was made without any evidence, or pretence of 
evidence whatever, for two villainous purposes: 1st. To disgrace the Government 
and people of the United States. 2d. To prepare a ground for hanging our cap- 
tured soldiers and officers, and thus to get rid of them more promptly and effectually 
than by starvation. 

" It is shown that the Confederate notes were extensively forged within the 
rebel States, by the fact that the sum of $5,000 was appropriated to pay the travel- 
ing and other expenses incident to the detection of forgers. How easy it would 
have been to distribute such forged notes among our soldiers by deserters, and 
through the picket lines, and then when they were captured to impute to them the 
purpose of circulating them, and thus subjecting them to the death penalty by 
hanging. 

" "We would respectfully suggest to the President as a means of protecting the good 
name of our Government from the meanness imputed to it by this recital, to require 
every member of the Confederate Congress of 1862, before be receives a pardon, to 
state upon what evidence this allegation was made, and also whether he voted for 
the following resolution : 

" BesoUecl^ By the House of Representatives of the Confederate States, the Sen- 
ate concurring, that we do adhere to our opinion that the so-called Emancipation 
Proclamation of the President of the United States, and the enlistment of negro 
slaves in the several federal armies now opi)Osed to us, are not among the acts of legi- 
timate warfare, but are properly classed among such acts as the right to put to death 
prisoners of war without special cause, the right to use poisoned weapons, and the 
right to assassinate, and if persisted in, will justify this Government in the adoption 
of measures of retaliation. 

" The indorsements on the paper go to show that this resolution •\yas read the 
first and second time, and made the special order for the secret session on the 16th of 
February, 1864. 

" On the 14th of June, 1864, a manifesto passed by the Confederate Congress 
was approved by Jefferson Davis (Statutes at Large, pp. 286-287-288), copies whereof 



REMINISCENCES OF JAMES A. li amiltoN. 5S5 



f lh« 
I 



were expressly directed to be transmitted to their Coi,unis.s».,ncr8 abm.l •.. " .. .^ 

that the same maybe laid before foreign governmonts, in which 

glaring naisrepresentations as to tlio results of battle?, the commc: 

war, &c., it declares that ' the wildest picture ever drawn bv a d' 

tion comes short of the extravagance whicii could dream of ilr . 

millions of people, resolved, with one mind, to die froemou ratlier th 

And, forewarned by the savage and exterminating spirit in which tliU war hM b««n 

waged upon them, and by the mad avowals of its patrons and suio • ' vone 

than Egyptian bondage that awaits them in the event of tiioir siii , _ . . 

" It is necessarily to be inferred that these avowals of the worse thnii Ev 
bondage were made by persons who had power. "Wo thorcforo further su-. r« 

the members of the Executive Administration or of Congrcs-s ho par 

they inform the President when and by whom tlicso avowals wore ; 

whether they have been attempted to be enforced. 

" It will be remembered that this manifesto was approvo<l within ten monUia of 
their subjugation, and after Lee and other high officers liad deolartd th , " " mI 
not men or means to carry on the war. This tissue of fil«<>!ini.ils was \>:. , . . . -ad 
sent abroad to induce recognition and material aid.'' 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX A. 



REPORT UPON THE CONDITION" OF OUR FOREIGN RELATIf»XS M.\UK TO 
PRESIDENT JACKSON BY JAMES A. HAMILTON, ACTING SECUE- 
TARY OF STATE. 

Department of State. ) 
"Wasuixgton, Miirch 26. 1^29. ) 

The Acting Secretary of State has the honor, in ohedicrco to tho diroctlonii r»- 
ceived from the President of the United States on tlie 17th in.stnnt, to rni!*,» in h« 
made out for him a synopsis of our Foreign Relations as respect.'* < - «, 

Navigation, and Fi-iendship, respectfully to report as to tho relatious U: ,-.. :.*« 
United States and France. 

James A. IIauiltov. 

FRANCE. 

The commercial relations between the two Governments were wttli-d by a 
Convention, concluded in the year 1822, to take etfcct from tho Itt > f " " * ■•r 
of that year, to be in force for two years, and alter th.it time until tlio • n 

of a definite treaty, or until one of the parties shall have declared it.s intontioo lo 
renounce it, -which declaration shall bo made at least six iiioiitlis boforchaml. _ 

By lapse of time, in pursuance of the provisions of the Third Article of tliU Con- 
vention, the trade between the two countries is put upon a footinji c! ■ •• 
tion, and the operation of this Convention upon the navigation of t!i' >''* 
has been to throw almost the whole of the trade into tho hands of .\incrican< lh# 
points now in discussion between the two Governments are divided into two part*. 

First.— Claims on the part of the United States for sj.oliations. 

The following is a succinct view of these claims, tiio negotiation in r(<p»nl !•> 
them, and its present situation. • <■ • 

All claims on the part of the United States prior to tho Convention of -• 

renounced by the Second Article thereof, in consideration of tJio nh.- 7 

France of all her pretensions on the score of the guaranty under the ; ^ •• 

cle of the treaty of Alliance of 1778, with a reservation that would vtuli^^ ^* 
three following cases, to Avit : v i » 

FlrsL—Cases of capture, where no judicial proceedings were hml. . , 

^.c^n^Z.-Cases not definitely decided on in French IribunaU on ll.o SOtfc of 
September, 1800. 

j/^/,.f7._Capturesmadesnbsequent totliat date. „.'./„..,..»■ r 



By the Convention of 1803, the United States assumed u.. ■ -. ■" 
to the 30th September, 1800, for twenty millions ot hvro^. ^ 

Subsequent to tliis Convention, the Government of tlie l n ^ 

to induce the French Government to conclude « <: '".V^'""","' ,.,, . ,„_ »^„ ^,,^^ 
the settlement of claims prior to tl.at Convent.on in those .iKo:hc.| r«.M, b,.t 



5 88 APPENDIX A. 

has been peremptorily refused on the part of France, on the ground that the whole 
affair was completely terminated, and the Government of the United States had 
adopted the debts of its citizens. 

In the year 1806, the Continental system commenced, and out of the Berlin, 
Milan, Bayonne, Rambouillet, and other Imperial Decrees from 1806 to 1810, arose a 
cbiss of cases numerous and to a very large amount. They are first divisible into 
the followinc: classes : 

First. — The vessels and cargoes burnt at sea. 

Second. — The vessels and cargoes seized, sequestered, and not condemned. 

Six other classes of claims resulting from irregular and illegal condemnations 
may be considered under the following heads : 

First. — Condemnations made in contravention of an existing treaty so far as re- 
lates to property captured and seized prior to 31st July, 1809. 

Second. — Condemnations made by Imperial Decrees which do not include cases 
of Appeal from the Council of Prizes to the Council of State, but those instances 
where the order of condemnation Avas issued immediately by Napoleon or by the 
Council of State without any previous trial by the Council of Prizes. 

Third. — Cases where the Council of Prizes did not observe the forms of law, but 
made decisions in obedience to an Imperial Decree without examining the ships' 
papers, or giving the parties an opportunity of bringing their proofs. 

Fourth. — Cases where the Milan Decree was made to have a retroactive effect, 
and thus to reach vessels which sailed before it was issued or so soon after as not to 
permit a knowledge of it to reach them, and in one case a condemnation was made 
for an alleged infraction of this Decree which happened before its date. 

Fifth. — Condemnations of vessels seized under the Berlin and Milan Decrees, and 
remaining undecided on 1st November, 1810, when these Decrees were revoked and 
to be considered by the Act of Revocation as not having existed. 

Sixth. — Condemnations for frivolous pretences of vessels captured after 1st No- 
vember, 1810, to wit : irregularities in certificates of origin or other ship papers, — 
presumed navigation under British convoy, mutiny on board, or intention to remit 
proceeds through England. 

The settlement of these claims has been pressed upon the French Government 
from the earliest moment, and continued uninterruptedly down to the present day. 

Their justice is too clear to be controverted, and has, from time to time, been ad- 
mitted by the ministers for Foreign affairs of France — they amount to about ten 
millions of dollars. 

In 1816, a Joint Commission was on our part proposed, — first, to liquidate the 
amount due for property either destroyed at sea or sequestered and not definitely 
condemned by the Council of Prizes. Second, to decide on whatever cases of irregu- 
lar or unlawful seizures, captures, or condenmations the Government of France is 
also bound to make compensation for, and to what amount. And this proposition was 
accepted verbally by the French Government and the acceptance was promised to 
be reduced to writing, but upon further consideration was refused. 

At first a decision was postponed by the French Government, owing to the em- 
barrassed state of France, until a more auspicious period should arrive. When that 
perioti arrived, we were told that our claims might have been more favorably I'e- 
ceived at an earlier period, to which it was replied that they had been urged at an 
earlier pei'iod, and postponed by France for the reason just mentioned. 

In October, lbl7, Mr. DeNeuville first brought to the notice of the American 
Government the pretensions of France, under the Eighth Article of the Convention 
of Cession of Louisiana, although they had existed, if at all, from 1803. They were 
first made obstacles to a commercial arrangement, and next to the settlement of our 
claims. 

Next the commercial difficulties were made a pretext for further postponement, 
and when, by the Convention of 1822, this difficulty wiis removed, it was insisted 
that the discussion of the pretensions aris'ng out of the Eighth Article of the Con- 
vention of Cession of Louisiana, should be connected with that of our claims which, 
being properly resisted by the Government of the LTnited States, the two Govern- 
ments were at issue. 



APPENDIX A. 5»,9 

Afterward, the Duke de Dnmas urged the extrftonlinarv dortrn.- iV ,• -^ „ r;- , 
of France, oti reascending the Throne, could not take, nor'hn'l • 
luent to satisfy all the claims imposed on him as indemnity for acu .•: \i. i- - c- *jj 
for the depredations committed by the nsurping Gowrnmcnt. * ' 

The Secretary of State of the United States, in a Ic-ltor to their " 
28th May, 1827, goes over tlie whole ground and instructs him t.. ..r 
for the settlement of the question, under the Convention of C- i| 

that it he referred to the arbitration either of citizens of other conn;: 
by the parties, or of a friendly power. Tlie comjilaint of France ui.. 
Article of that Convention has been, that Fnncli vessels and their c:. n 

liable in the ports of Louisiana to ]iay the alien duties imposed by tl , -.h* 

United States, and from which duties British vessels wore exempt, and lier rlaitn U 
the reimbursement of these duties. 

The question authorized by these instructions to bo referred to arbitration, wm 
specifically, whether France be entitled or not to have refundid any of thc«> itltn 
duties collected from French vessels, or their carfroos. between t)- ■ ' • •' • 
Louisiana Treaty and the 1st October, 1827, and if the demand he f-i 
arbitration, that they shall then proceed to determine the amount wliit!, 
funded, which amount shall be credited to France, against tlie American • .. : . . .. . 
if it should exceed them, the excess shall be paid by the United Stntcs. 

No decisive answer having been given by France to this jiroposition, ' ' 
tion being taken to its terms, Mr. IJrown was authorized on tlio 17th ^ 
to agree to the reference of the general question involved in that dispute, tha: i», 
one so stated as to embrace all the rights claimed by France, accordint; to h-- in- 
terpretation of that Article. 

Mr. Brown, by his dispatch, dated 12th Xovembcr, 1S28, states t' ' 
to this proposition, as well as to our claims, was postponed Irom Uiu 
the various pretences that had been before urged, and so tlie negotiation «»iand» at 
the date of his last dispatch, on the 12th day of January, 1829. 

On this subject, negotiation aj>pears to have been exhausted, nnd the jn»t cUim« 
of our citizens' have been resisted by every pretext that iiigenui- 
fii-st to evade a decision, and at length emboldened by our forb^M! •■ 
ly avowed that the present dynasty is not to be charged with their pavnu-m. 

The claims on the part of France, aio: 

First.— That under the Eighth Article of the Convention of Cession of Lo 

Second. — The Beaumarchais claim, and 

Third.— Claims of Frencii citizens on account of vessels captured on Uio o.«»l 

of Africa. j » t^ , 

The discussion of the first pretension has been full and free, nnd oxt«Dtled lo an 

almost immeasurable length. It was concluded in 1824. 

The claim of the heirs of Beaumarchais has been repeatedly prc.or.t.-.i 

gress, and rejected from a conviction, as is believed, that it was r.-' ■■ I lu .. - ^ 

upon the United States. - .-■ ■• •■ 

The claims for captures of vessels on the coast ot Atri.-a ar- 
on our part to suppress the Slave Trade, and have been deemed i 
I>ortance as not to have been drawn into discussion. 

GKEAT BRITAIN. 
The relations between the United States and this Government nn- i.r,'pcrlT di- 
vided into the following principal topics, now m discussion : 

First The North-Eastcrn boundary line. --i,.i.^. . . 

Snk-An Act of Parliament of 25th July, 1828, to amend u.o ,a«, r.h 

the Customs, &c. 

Third.— rhe recovery of fugitive slaves. 

i^(>«r«/^.— Sundry cases of impressnu'nt of se'imon 

I._A Convention between tho United .states and Or«it Hr.i o 

eluded and signed at London, on the 20tli Sei.tem er. 1' 

ence to the arbitration of a friendly sovereign or ^ . •• ■■ 

boundary. 



590 APPENDIX A. 

The ratifications of the Convention were exchanged at London, on the 2d April, 
1828, and from that date are to be counted tlie intervals of time within which, ac- 
cording to the terms of the Convention, the various steps toward the proposed 
reference are to he taken. 

The Third Article of the Convention stipulates. First, — That each party sliall be 
bound on the application of the other party, made within six months after the ex- 
change of the ratification, to give authentic copies of such individually specified acts 
of a public nature, intended by such other party, to be laid as evidence before the 
arbiter, as are witliin the exclusive possession of each party. 

The terra of six months herein stipulated, expired on the 2d October, 1828. 
Pursuant to this stipulation, Mr. Vaughan, His Britannic Majesty's Minister, near 
the United States, on the 15th May, 1828, addressed a note to the Secretary of State 
containing an application for certain documents therein enumerated in the exclusive 
possession of the Government of the United States, and on the 31st July following, 
authentic copies of these documents were transmitted to Mr. Vaughan. 

On the 26th September, 1828, a note was addressed by the Department of State 
to Mr. Vaughan, containing a list of the documents of a public nature in the pos- 
session of the British Government, intended to be laid before the arbiter on the part 
of the United States, and demanding authentic copies of said documents. 

In order to guard against all misunderstanding or equivocation, the Minister of 
the United States, at London, was by a dispatch, dated the 3d June, 1828, instruct- 
ed to make a sin liar demand directly upon the British Government. 

At the date of the last dispatch from the United States Minister at London, the 
documents had not yet been delivered to him, but in a note from the Earl of Aberdeen 
to Mr. Barbour, dated 1st January, 1829, the British Minister apologized for the de- 
lay on the ground of the voluminous character of the papers demanded, their exist- 
ence in the British Colonial Archives, and the labor of transcribing old and almost 
obsolete State papers at home, a search for which would be both laborious and 
dubious. 

The third article of the Convention further stipulates, that each party shall, 
within nine months after the exchange of the ratifications, communicate to the other 
all the evidence intended to be brought in support of its claims. 

Tlie term of nine months therein specified expired on the 2d January, 1829. — 
Pursuant thereto, transcripts of all the written and topographical evidence intended 
by the Government of the United States to be adduced in support of their claim, 
were delivered to Mr. Vaughan, on the 30th December, 1828, by a clerk in the de- 
partment of State, together with a list of all the documents and maps, and an oflicial 
note from the Secretary of State, dated that day. 

The same stipulation was fulfilled at London, by the British Government, on the 
1st January, 1859, when the Earl of Aberdeen, with a note of that date, delivered to 
Mr. Barbour a series of documents purporting to be copies of the evidence intended 
to be laid by the British Government before the arbiter. These documents were 
forthwith transmitted to the Department of State, where they were received on the 
26th of February, 1829. 

On the 9th of May, 1828, Albert Gallatin and William Pitt Preble were appointed 
by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, agents in the negotiation 
aud on the umpirage relating to the northeastern boundary of the United States. 

During the summer of 1828, these two gentlemen were engaged in collecting 
from various sources, pursuant to instructions from the Secretary of State, information 
and documentary and topographical evidence to enable them to frame and support 
the statements and arguments intended to be laid before the arbiter. 

In November following, they both attended at Washington to select and arrange 
such evidence as they thought necessary to adduce in support of the American 
claim, and to superintend the transcribing of the docun>ents and maps, copies of 
wliich were communicated to the British Minister, on the 30th of December, as stated 
above. It is understood that they are now both engaged in preparing material for 
the first statement. 

By the second article of the Convention, it is stipulated that the statements to 
be submitted by each party respectively to the arbiter, shall be mutually communi- 



APPENDIX A. 5QJ 

cated to each other by the contracting parties ; tl.at is to s^av hr th. I'Mt.! «»*.•* 
to His Britannic Majesty's Minister, or Charge' d'Amiiros ill M'-' '••**« 

Britain to the Minister, or Charge d' Affaires of tiio UiiiU^d St.; . - 
fifteen months after the exchange of the ratifications of tlie ]«rc8<'nVc. • 

The period therein prescribed will expire on the 2d of Jnlv. 1>'"< 

It is understood, that it is the intention of Messrs. GallatiM'aiul "I'rcM- •.. • . . • ,i 

Washington, in May, 1829, for the puriiose of ].rocceding jointly to m " .i 

statement required by the above stipulation, to be coniinunicntiMl t. . v. •,. 

ister on the 2d of July next, accompanied by transcri|.ts of nil the wr.- •>- 

graphical evidence intended to be laid along witli the said statement : 
ter. Two copyists, and several draughtsinea are now engaged in p. , ,« 

transcripts, under the supermtendence of one of the clerks of the Dct .rf 

State. ' 

The second article of the convention further stipulates, that after snrh commnnl- 
cation (the interchange of the first statement above reftTred to) shiill ; d 

place, each party shall have the power of drawing up a second and dctinit.- .i 

if it thinks fit to do so, in reply to the statement of the other party so com; L 

which definite statement shall also be mutually communicated, in tU, 
as aforesaid, to each other by the contracting parties within twenty-oi' 
the exchange of the ratification of the present Convention. 

The period of time above stipulated will expire on the 2d of Jan<:"'- '- ■■ '->. 
fore which day the second or definite statement on the part of th- ..» 

must be prepared and communicated to the British Minister, or Chur^v u'All»tr«i^ 
at Washington. 

Finally, the fifth article of the Convention provides that " all the •itatcinonui, 
papers, maps, and documents above-mentioned, and which shall have bcci. .'!y 

communicated as aforesaid, shall, without any addition, subtr.iction, <>r n 

whatsoever, be jointly and simultaneously delivered to the Arhiln/ 

or State, within two years after the exchange of tlio ratifications of th. ' ,. ,. 

unless the arbiter should not within that time have consented to net m nuch; in 
which case all the said statements, papers, maps, and documents shall !>»• ' ' r» 

him within six months after the time when he shall have conscntid *>•< t- No 

other statements, papers, maps, or documents shall be laid before the arbiter cioepC 
as hereinafter provided. 

The period stipulated in the above article will expire on the 2d of April, IMO, 
and the statements, papers, maps, and documents must be laid before the arbiter be- 
fore that day, if he shall have consented so to act. 

On the 22d of June, 1828, the United States Charg6 d'AtT.iires at London, in hU 
despatch, No. 45, informed the Secretary of State, that the King ot the NV'^ -•-:;(!• 
had been agreed upon as the arbiter, and on the Uth of October, 1S2S, tl: - rr 

of State instructed the Charge d'Affaircs of the United States ut the !■ 
the King of the Netherlands to assume the ofiice of arbitrator. No r._. . 
been received to these instructions, and it is not known whether Hi;* N 4- 

ish Majesty has consented to take the said office upon liimsilf. _ 

II.— Act of Parliament of July 25th, 1828, to amend the laws rclattng lo th« em. 
toms. A copy of this act, in a supplement to the National InUlh-jenefr o( - -f, 

30th, 1828, is found in this department. ...,,,, • • 

By an instruction to Mr. Barbour, of October 15tli, 1828, ho is ii.' 
aforesaid act is considered here as an infraction of tlie secimd ar! 
tion of 1815, which provides for an equality of duties in the pi-: . T 

on the importation of articles, the growth, produce, or nianutm-! 

the vessels of both, inasmuch as by the act in question, cotton wu .-. ■ ^ 

place of its origin, is admitted into British ports in Hnti.sh v.•.•.^■.^ (• •• 

Colonies at a duty of 4^?. per cwt., while its transportation tl • 
country in British or other vessels, is subjected to a duty ol - 

Mr. Barbour is therefore instructed to inipiiro whether it ho ti.o^ -. 
British Government to make a discriminniion, in point ot .lui;. . • 
portation of cotton, the growth of the United States, m Mrit.^h >• * 

Colony, and its importation direct from the United Stale*, ui u 



c*»<>« w» 



592 APPENDIX A. 

States, .iiul ■whether merely touching? at a Colonial port will entitle a British vessel 
laden with cotton from tlie United States to an exemption from the higher duty, or 
whether to entitle to such exemption the cotton must be discharged, or the importa- 
tion of it into the Colony have been made in a vessel other than that in which it is 
finally conveyed to the British port; and should this unfavorable interpretation be 
given to the act, Mr. Barbour is instructed to remonstrate against it. 

On September 22d, 1828, Mr. Barbour held a conference with Lord Aberdeen 
upon the subject of the above instructions, which resulted in a suggestion of Lord 
Aberdeen, that from the difficulty of his comprehending the subject, Mr. Barbour 
should address him a written communication upon it. 

On November 27th, Mr. Barbour made such communication in which he sets 
forth the subject of complaint, and aska the desired explanation. 

On January 3d, 1829, Mr. Barbour addressed a note to Lord Aberdeen, calling 
his attention to his, Mr. Barbour's, note of November 27tb and soliciting an answer. 

On the Monday following, January 10th, not having received any reply to his 
note of November 27th, or to that of January 3d, Mr. Barbour, as appears by his 
despatch to this Department, on January 22d held a conference with Lord Aberdeen, 
in which upon an assurance of Lord Aberdeen's, that a reply was in a course of prep- 
aration, and on inquiry of Mr. Barbour's as to its character. Lord Aberdeen said, he 
believed it was esteemed of very little practical consequence, and that the interpre- 
tation objected to by the Government of the LTnited States was that which fairly be- 
longed to the Act of Parliament in question, and was designed by its authors ; the prin- 
cipal of whom was Mr. Huskisson. Mr. Barbour replied, " that if the principle were 
maintfiined which had been objected to by his Government, he was instructed to 
protest against it, as an evasion, if not an infraction, of the treaty, and upon his sug- 
gestion, that his Government would be compelled to resort to retaliatory measures ; 
and on inquiry of Lord Aberdeen's whether he referred in the suggestion to the can- 
celling of the convention, he said that he was unadvised as to the character and 
extent of the retaliatory measures contemplated. 

By his despatch No. 13, dated January 30th, 1829, Mr. Barbour informs this De- 
partment, that he had just received a note from Lord Aberdeen, in reply to his of 
the 27th of November last, and which is enclosed to this Department. Mr. Barbour 
also informs tliis Department that he had suspended any other reply to Lord Aber- 
deen's note than the acknowledgement of its being received, and had abstained from 
notifying the British Government that retaliatory measures would be taken on the 
part of this Government, as he had been instructed to do, but should wait the instruc- 
tions from tlii^ Department in relation thereto. 

Lord Aberdeen, in his note above referred to, insists that the Act of Parliament 
in question involves no violation, in letter or in spirit, of the Commercial Convention 
existing between the two Governments. He says he admits tliat this Act allows 
the importation of cotton from any British possession upon tlie payment of a duty 
of 46?. per cwt., and he refers to another Act of Parliament (6 Geo. IV. Cap. 107, 46 
Sec), to show the meaning of the term " importation from a British possession ; " 
by Avhich it a])pears that no goods shall be deemed to be so imported, unless they 
are imported direct from such place, and shall have been there laden on board the 
importing ship, either as the first shipment of such goods or after the same shall 
have been actually landed at such place, and he states that upon any shipment not 
coming within one or other of the two cases, the higher duty is unquestionably 
charged, and he informs this Government that the most rigid orders have been 
given to avoid fraud or collusion, and that the consequence will be that the cotton 
so imported, would by being subjected to tlie expense of unlading and relading, and 
the colonial duties, to charges equal to the higher duty which Mr. Barbour from the 
information of intelligent merchants is of the opinion that such would be the effecc. 
(The Britisli Consul at New York informed Mr. Hamilton that the most rigid or- 
ders had been given, and that the expense of the relading was equal to the higher 
duty). 

Lord Al)erdeen, referring to this state of things, further says, that the circuitous 
voyage which it was anticipated would be made in consequence of this difference 
in the duties, could not be made without the assent of the United States. They 



r,93 



r 



APPENDIX A. 

hi itisl ships. Lord Aberdeen disavows tl.o i.n,.ro^sion cn-u- 
n.ent, that the Act was principally, if not exclusivolv, limite / .„ .• 
tat.ons uito the Er.tish ports to cotton, the f:nnvtl.V.V ,l,e Un . i 
goes on to give a history of this enactment, viz. : ,hnt it is a , nr .,f 
tern and was adopted lor the purpose of exton-lin,^ the comnHr-i-l - 
the British Colonists, giving them the advantage of a tra.lo of d. 
lor collecting a revenue, and that it is not in terms, intention, or ,-:, . 
the possessions of Great Britain in North American, or the W..«t In.i. • 

III.— FUGITIVE SLAVES. 

In the general instructions to Mr. Gallatin, of the 19th June, l«2r, ),o wu m. 

tlionzed to propose to the British Government an arrangement f„r the n 
render of "all persons held to service or labor under the law^ of .,n.- • 
escape into the territories of the other," and to embrace in the nrnr 

vision for a like surrender of deserters from the military, naval, and ; .. . 

vice of tlie two countries respectively. 

By Mr. Gallatin's dispatch. No. 41, of the 21st December, 18'2tl, ! ■ " 
Department that, in pursuance of his instructions, lie had brou-ht : 
fugitive slaves to the notice of the Britisli Government in an informal . 
and that the correctness of the principle of restoration was a'hniitc<l. ' • ■ 
in the way of an arrangement were suggested, arising from tlio d^ 
British courts,_and the elibrts of the British Abolition As.sociation. 

The attention of Mr. Gallatin was again directed to the subject, in ir)>Tii( •'..r.to 
him of the 24th February, 1827, in which allusion was marie to re>- .« 

Legislature of Kentucky, invoking the interposition of the general ( . 
the purpose of eiFecting an arrangement on the subject; and on the 
lowing, Mr, Gallatin was informed by Mr. Addimrton, that '' on one i ■ 
ernnieiit liad come to a conclusion. It was utterly impo.-sible for tin.:.. ; 
a stipulation for the surrender of fugitive slaves," And in a conference ' \i 

the Britisli Plenipotentiaries, on the 25th September, 1827, Mr. C" 
itly informed that tiie British Government could not acc.de to ; a 

mutual surrender of fugitive slaves, alleging for rea>on that tliey c:. 
spect to the British possessions where slavery is not admitted, depart ; 
ciple recognized by the British Courts, that every man is free who r. . -!i 

ground. Mr. Gallatin adds that he does not believe that there has 1 i. 

sion extending that principle to Canada and other provinci-s t>n thi' f 

North America, and I do not know, says he, " whether the fact is strictly c .t 

slavery is forbidden in Canada, but it has been intimatoil to mo intorni-"-. 
was tlie state of public opinion here on that subject, that no adminis:;. 
would admit in a treaty a stipulation such as was asked for."' 

The subject does not appear to have been any further pro.«scd by Mr. G i"ir'r. 

On the 13th June, 1828, Mr. Clay transmitted to Mr. Barbour '^^''VT^ 
lution of the House of Representatives of the United States, of th 
requesting the President to open a negotiation for the recovery ■ 
and referring Mr. Barbour to the instructions on the subject to Mr. (■ 
19th June, 1826, and 24th February and 24th May, lii27, in>tn;ct<'d ! 
if he could a'certaiit that the Britisli Government was favorably d 
subject, the proposal which Mr. Gallatin was in-.trncted to niaV 

On the Ibt October, A[r. Barbour opened the subject in a r 
Aberdeen, which resulted in a suggestion of his, that " tlio iie.'id o!^ 
Department intended to bring the subject before rarliament, when ... ... , 

evil complained of would be obviated." Here the subject now tvnta. 

IV.— IMPRESSMENT, 
On the 2Gth January, 1829, Mr. Clay transmitted t.) Mr. Harboar cx,|.J« tt A 
38 



594 APPENDIX A. 

correspondence between himself and Mr. Vauglian, from tlie 8tli May, 1826, to the 
17th December, 1828, relating to three cases of impressment, viz. : 

First,— Of two seamen from ths Brig Fharos of Boston, while at anchor in the 
harbor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, by Captain ClaTering,^ commtuider of Ilis Bri- 
tannic Majesty's Ship Redwing^ on the 6th December, 1825. 

Second,— Of four seamen ; two from the Brig Monroe, of Boston, and two from 
the Brig Juno, of Bedford, in Clarence Bay, Island of Fernando Po, near the coast 
of Africa, by Captain Owner, of His Britannic Majesty's Ship Me7i, in the Spring 
of 1828. 

Third,— Oi two seamen from the Brig Telegraph, in the Bay of Campeachy, by 
order of Captain Pvich, commander of the British Sloop of War Harpy, on the 19th 
September, 1828. 

In the first case, the complaint was orii^inally made to Mr. Vanuhan by Mr. Clay, 
on the 8th May, 1826, on the ground of a statement of the case made by Mr. 
Hodges, Consul of the United States at the Cape de Verd Islands. In reply to the 
complaint, Mr. Vaughan, on the 22d of the same month, transmitted a cunnnunica- 
tion made to him by His Britannic Majesty's Consul at Boston, Mr. Manners, stating 
that in a conversation which he held with Captain Merchant, master of the Pharos^ 
then lately arrived from Africa, he, Captain Merchant, admitted tliat neither of the 
seamen taken were natives of the United States; but that one of them was an 
Englishman picked up at the Cape de Verd Islands, and the other a native of Nor- 
way, and that they had both volunteered to serve on board the liedwing ; that 
when they were demanded on board the Pharos, they were told by the person in 
command to go into the Eedwing's boat, wliich they did voluntarily, and that when 
it was afterwards found that the Norwegian had an American protection, he was 
sent back to the Pharos. 

Mr. Clay thereupon took measures, through the Attorney of the United States 
at Boston, to procure a statement of tlie facts directly from the master of the 
Pharos, but when his letter reached Boston, the master of the Pharos had just 
sailed for the Cape de Verd Islands, and had not since returned. 

On the loth June, Mr. Clay addressed a nots to Mr. Vaughan in wliich, after 
alluding to the imperfection of the statement of the British Consul as to the cir- 
cumstances under which the seamen volunteered, and by whose order they went 
into the Eedwing''s boat, he contended that the taking was illegal unless the doc- 
trine be sustained that all seamen may be taken from a vessel at sea who are not 
natives of the country to which the vessel belongs ; and in reply to the statement 
that the men in question were told by the person in command of the Pharos to go 
on board the boat, he urges that it is not tlierefore the le^s a case of impressment, 
inasmuch as the demand was made njjon an unarmed vessel in presence of an armed 
force capable of enforcing it, and that the alleged volunteering of the men would 
not divest the case of this character. 

On the 23d March, 1827, Mr. Vaughan communicated an extract of a letter from 
the commander of the Redwing to Commodore Bulleu, of the 19th September, 1826, 
stating that the two seamen, previous to the taking of them from the Pharos, had 
been on board his ship and desired to enter, one of them stating himself to be an 
Englishman and the other a Dane, that the latter entered as a shipwright, but prov- 
ing unfit to perform his duty, was in a few days dismissed, and returned to his 
oi'iginal vessel. 

"On the — day of July, 1827, Mr. Vaughan addressed Mr. Clay a note, in which 
he says he is charged by his Government to say that no officer of His Majesty's 
Government is authorized, during peace, to impress any British subject or any alien 
in any part of the world. He thinks Mr. Clay has '' strained " the evidence in the 
case which he seems not to consider one of impressment, and anticipates a confir- 
mation of the statement of Captain Clavering by the master of the Pharos, when- 
ever his testimony shall be obtained. He makes, what he considers a misrepresen- 
tation of the case originally by Mr. Hodees, the subject of formal complaint. To 
thi^^, Mr. Clay replied, on the 15th August, and transmitted to Mr. Vaughan a copy 
of a letter from Mr. Hodges of the 20th June, 1827, acknowledging receipt of a let- 
;er from this Department directing him to take the deposition of Captain Merchant, 



505 



APPENDIX A. 

master of the Pharos, saying that his deposition shonl.l bo \^ ' ^- - 

a voyage, and stating the additional fact, tliat one of the iw.'. 
peared on the Hole d'Jiquipage of tlie Pharos to l,o a citiz. ■ 
and was repi-esented by his protection to l)o a native of I'm t 

Mr Vaughan answers on tlie Kitli of August that, having 
the statement ot Captain Olavering tluit no blame attacbo.l to hn,. . 
about the depositions to be expected througli the agency i.f Mr' II 
the add,tioual testimony forwarded by him was not noc^>i-arv t'. ■ 
which one of tlie seamen bore on the LV>k d'BjHijnirie, inasmiin, 
by Captain Clavenng as soon as it was discoveivd ti.at ho had an Auut, 
tion. He again complains of the conduct of iAIr. Hodges in his ri'|.r«.u i • 
the afiair to his Government. 

On the 6th of December, 1828, Mr. Clav transmitted t.. y\v. V.ui •••»;, n ■ 
a deposition received from Mr. Hodges, of Benjamin Homer, .Maiu ..f il.c , 
(the testimony of the Captain not yet liaving been obtained), from wliidi it 
that the two seaman were forcibly taken from tiie Phurott, in tlio " 
tain, and against his, the said Homer's, remonstrances; ibat on- 
Iloi)erts, was a citizen of the United States, and tbo other a Hritisii * 
at Bonavista; that on thereUirn of Captain Merchant, he, Cnptiiin M.. .., 
the liedwing, and demanded the men, when he was abusively treated. I: 
teclion, though shown, disregarded, and tlie deiivt-ry of tlio men ;• " 
gation that they had, while on sJiore the day i)revious, promised s 
the Pedwing to enter on board that vessel. It farther a[)pears that UolH«rt.t \ 
tained ten or eleven days, and was then delivered up only on upplic.iti • ' 
order of Commodore Bulkn, who commanded on the station, and : 
his return denied any knowledge of his alleged engagement t4> enter uh 'b< . 
Pedwing ; whicli must, he said, have been made, if at all, while lio w.-us in a - 
intoxication. Mr. Clay then adverts to the mischievous conse<iuonceH of a'. 
the practice of enticing men (leaving the idea of impressment out k'' "' 
from tiieir employment on a distant service, under circnmstances in w . 
might be severely felt, and when it miglit be impossible to replace them. 

Mr. Vaughan replied on tlie 8th December — says he will send a c-" v . r \r- 
Clay's note to his Government; complains that tlie name inipressinciil c 
be given to the transaction; alludes to the fact that Mr. lloin ' ■' 
taken nearly two years alter the occurrence of tiic ficts, with rt-. 
testifies that it differs from the statement of Captain Olavering. • 

him to the Department on the 23d March, 1829. Xo further corrc-, ..- 

been held with Mr. Vaughan on the subject. 

II. In the second case of impressment, viz., from the I>rigs .l/ 
Captain Owner of His Majesty's Sliip Eden, it appears from the ■. , 
tain Gallop, of the Brig Monroe, that the two men were first demanded. 
ward taken from the Monroe with their elfecis, i>n the ground tl. ;• •' 
to volunteer on board the Fden, notwithstanding it wjis represent, 
that the taking them would expose the vessel and cargo to 
short-handed .at a season of bad weather, and notwitli->tani;...» .. 
which one of the men had. Captain Gallop also says that one of tlio ni. 
the Monroe as a foreigner, and the other as an Americ m, an I ■' ■ 
that the latter had sailed from Boston and neigliboring p- 
years, protected as an American seaman, and when sldppcd was ; 

Josiah Gould, supercargo of the Monroe, depi»ses to the tru:li ■ 
statement, and further testifies to the taking of two men Irom 
Heusev, at the same time and place by Cai)tain ( )wiur. <-• • 
sired to volunteer on board the Eden, auA ha I maile-. 

subjects. . . \i \- ' .. .. i' ^ I'ffi IV-- 

Mr. Clay transmitted the foregoing depositions t-) .Mr. n - 
cember, 1828, with a summary statement of the c!ise:«. nnd • 
practice of withdrawing seamen from their service on b; 
vessels by British Ships of War, niider whatever aspect i: 
which the American Government cannot submit. 



596 APPENDIX A. 

Mr. Vauglian acknowledged tlie receipt of the above note and accompanying doc- 
uments on the Sth December, and said that be would endeavor to obtain from bis 
Government satisfactory explanations. 

III. In the third case of impressment, viz., that from the Brig Telegraph in Cam- 
peachy Bay, by Captain Rich of the Ilavpy^ it appears from a letter to this Depart- 
ment from Mr. Perriiie, United States Consul at Campeacliy, of tbe 4th October, 
1828, and the accompanying documents, that on tlie 16th September last, two sea- 
men were forcildy tfxken from the Telegraph while at andior in the Bay of Campeacby, 
within the jurisdiction of the Mexican Government by order of Captain Rich, com- 
mander of the Havpy. That on an ai)peal to the Military Commandant at Cam- 
peachy, to interpose bis authority for tbe restoration of the men, tlie application of 
force in obtaining them was admitted by tbe officers who executed the orders of 
Captain Rich, but that he refused to proceed to an investigation of tbe transaction, 
denying the right of the authorities at Campeacby to interfere, and threatening 
serious couseqnences should such interference be attempted. The men were, how- 
ever, notwithstanding the threats and remonstrances, restored to the Telegraph. 

In tbe course of the transaction, Captain Rich is represented by Mr. Perrine to 
have made a repeated declaration, not merely of his general right, but also of his 
especial orders to take seamen. Englishmen by birth, wherever he might find them, 
adding, for illustration, even if on board of the Mexican gun-boat in the port, especially 
shoulil tlie sailors desire to enter into His Majesty's service. 

Mr. Clay transmitted tbe foregoing letter and documents to Mr. Vaughan, on tbe 
11th Decembar, 1828. alluding to this case, in connection with the other cases of im- 
pressment, as furnishing ground of presumption that the acts complained of were tbe 
result of a system of orders ; asking for an explanation of the case, and expressing 
the expectation that tlie British Government will forthwith put an effective stop to 
a practice which the Government of the United States cannot tolerate. 

Mr. Vaughan replies on the 17th December that he will ask the desired explana- 
tion of bis government, but that, in the mean time, he cannot refrain from the expres- 
sion of his regret that the term impressment should be applied to this case, inasmuch 
as tlie Government of tbe United States are well aware that impressment by British 
officers is not authorized by their Government in time of peace. He also suggests 
that all the cases complained of have been those of seamen representing themselves 
British subjects, requesting that they might be received into His Majesty's service, 
and thinks that tbe acceptance of such proffered services ought not to be character- 
ized as an act of impressment. 

In transmitting to Mr. Barbour, as it has been stated was done by Mr. Clay, on 
the 26tb January, 1829, the correspondence, &c., of which the foregoing is a sum- 
mary, after an examination of tbe grounds taken hj Mr. Vaughan, Mr. Barbour was 
instructed to address an official note to tbe British Government, inquiring whether 
in all, or any of these cases the British Officers acted in conformity with orders from 
their Government, and especially, whether Captain Rich had any authority for the 
enormous pretensions asserted by him ; and if he should ascertain upon such inquiry 
that the proceedings complained of have had the sanction of the British Government, 
he is instructed to inform it, that the Government of the United States cannot tole- 
rate but will feel compelled to oppose them. But if, on the contrary, they have taken 
place without the sanction of the British Government, he is instructed to demand 
the punishment of the offending officers, and the adoption of measures affording a 
security against the recurrence of similar irregularities. 

This Department is not possessed of any further information on these subjects. 
All negotiation as to the Colonial trade, il is recollected, was put an end to long 
since by tbe determination of the British Government not to proceed further in the 
discussion for reasons which is not necessarj' to recite. 

This subject will supply matter for a distinct report to the President. 

RUSSIA. 

The relations between the United States and the Government of this country are 
of the most friendly character, and there does not appear to be any thing which has a 
tendency to disturb them. 



ArPtNDix. A. r,y7 

In 1821 the Emperor Alexander is?necl :m Ukase, the nrovUin, « of „ 
on our rights of trading on tlie north^vo>t coast, hut tlii< .! •' 
settled hy a convention conehided in 1824, hctwecn tln> i . 
the only treaty negotiated between the two countries. '"' ' " ' 

Henry Middleton, of Soiuli Carolina, Envov Kx:rnordiinrv • - • »■ • 
potentiary, represents the United States near tlJe Enipi-ror of Ki 
Krudeiier, wi.h the same rank, represents the EmiK-ror of Uu^^i:, near • ,a 

btate^. ^ 

By an act of Congress of January, 1824, discriminnting duties of tonnast. n' 

po'^t are sn-pended in the ports of ti:e United Status, s s resiK-rls tl ' • • 

to continue as long as a similar exeinjition shall be allowed to v. 

States it) the ports of that nation. 

SPAIN'. 

The negotiations between the United States and tlic Givornmont of t: 
liave been more extended, delicate, and ditiicnlt than any.aher of tlio 
Europe, England excepted ; and from the course of tlieni it lia.s boon. fr. :o 

time, justly apprehended that friendly ncL'otiatioiis being inefVvctunl to ir 

rights, it would become the duty of tbis Government no loiigvr to rely on < « 

means of redress, hut to appeal to arms. 

Tbis s'ate of things was, however, happily for b(tth counlrio«. nrrostc<l I'T th« 
conclusion, in 1819, of the Florida Treaty, by which the just riaims of onr Hti/cn* 
were paid, and the continued source of ditliculties resulting from our cotcnniooos 
territories was removed. 

The present important topics of negotiation may bo classed as foUow.H : 

First. — Piracies. 

Second. — Indemnity for spoliations on onr commerce. 

Third. — The state of our commerce in the ports of Spnin. 

Fourth. — Our right to have a Consul resident at the Il.iv.ma, 

Tlie claims of the First class arose out of the atrocious piracies cor t 

commerce, for a serits of years past, by robbers i-suing from the h;i: n 

and Porto Rico, and which were not prevented by Spain, owing to her wv A 

the countenance and connivance they experiencetl from some of t! 
and some of the local authorities in those Islands. Tiienco result oi. 
Spain for those losses. 

Second. — The spoliations for wh'ch indemnity is claimed, arc nil ne---^"'-'*' *■"'•• 
sequent to the Florida Treaty and the year 1810. They were the C" 
captures made hy Spanish privateers, iitted out principally from V l 

Porto Pwico. under pretext of the blockade declared by Genoral M 
gal blockade, extended all along the line of the coast of South Ain. :« 

plainly a violation of the law of nations, being so declared l>y the Sp 
ment when it revoked it, and when it ma'lo rei)aration, as it did l>v « ' > 

the British Government, for the injuries her citizens had su-tii; 
tion has h nvever, upon various pretexts the most frivolous a^d \ .. . 
layed and continued to the present time. _ . ^ 

T/u';rZ.— This topic refers to the bnr.lcnsomo re^trie:;o;.^ w 
is subjected to in the ports of Spain, and whicli are exclusi\v!y : 
merce of the United States. Foreign ships pay a tonna:'c duty 
peninsula of one real per tun, while those of the United Mat-- ■'.• 
twenty reals per ton. • ,- 

Fourth.— Bj the Nineteenth Article of our Tioaty ot 1 . 
entitled to have a Consul established in the Havana when. ^ 
extended to any other Foreign power. France, for four }■ 
there, and Great Britain has, for some time pa4, enjoyo'l i ■■ 
permission to have her Coimnissioners for aitending to Uw . 
Trade Convention. We have, therefore, a clear Ireaty-r j 

it has become vastly important to us that we .shoiihl haN. ■ „,„,^^ .oj o«f 
iu Porto Kico, not only in reference to the proteotion of o.n c uiHKnrc ^ ^t 



59 S ' APPENDIX A. 

countrymen, but in order to watch the conduct of the European powers in relation 
to tlio^e i^Linds; for it clearly appears from Mr. Everett's correspondence with this 
Department, that in the year 1827 a project was set on foot in England by the 
refugees of Spnin, and Avith the cooperation of the British Ministers, to place those 
islands under the protection of that power, and that the form of a Declaration of 
Independence was to be adopted in order to avoid awakening the jealousy of this 
Government. This information ought to be relied upon, as it was received from the 
Duke of Wellington himself before he was in the ministry. 

The negotiation on all these points, having proceeded in the most dilatory and 
vexatious manner, is now almost suspended. 

Besides these points in which the United States have a direct interest and which 
may be said to be personal to them, the war between Spain and her former Colonies has 
always engaged the attention of our ministers; the object of the United States being 
to induce on tlie part of Spain the acknowledgment of the independence of those 
States, and the termination of the contest. 

PORTUGAL. 

The relations .between the United States and the Government of this country 
have never been cemented by a Treaty or Convention of any kind. Negotiations 
between them were held in the years 1783, 1791, 1822, and until recently by our 
Charge d'Aftaires, Mr. Brent. 

Before the special mission of General Dearborn in 1822, the Portuguese Charge 
d' Affaires addressed to this Depnrtment several notes containing lists of Portuguese 
vessels captured by privateers alleged to have been fitted out in the United States, 
to which claims of indemnity were added to a very large amount, and with lliem 
was connected a demand for a joint commission to detei-mine and assess the ajnount 
of damages the United States were to pay, which was rej cted on the just and 
obvious ground that not a single case of capture had been alleged, for which the 
United States were justly responsible. 

The principal object of General Dearborn's mission was to endeavor to conclude 
a Convention regulating the commerce between the two countries. That not being 
obtained, the mission terminated without effect, in June, 1825. 

After tlie Methnen Treaty, and until the recent changes in the Government of 
Pcn-tugal, that country might well be considered as little better than a province of 
England. 

Daring the revolutions which have for f )ur or five years past convulsed that 
country, there has been a struggle between England, her ancient ally, and France, 
which should obtain her favors ; each in turn caressing them with an assiduity as 
rare as the means would seem to be ridiculous, by conferring honor and tlie orders 
of the respective sovereigns upon the King of Portugal. 

At tlie period of the recent usurpation of Don Miguel, the representative of this 
country aid those of all the Powers of Europe, except of the Pope, of Spain, and 
Sardinia, either suspended their functions or withdrew altogether. Subsequently 
the Chnrge d'Affaires of Spain has also withdrawn, declaring however, at tlie same 
time, tliat Spain being engaged in negotiation in common with the other powers 
respecting the concerns of Portugal, the object of whicli was not more beneficial to 
Spain than to Don Miguel, who it was jiroper should as soon as possible be recogniz- 
ed as King, his Catholic Majesty had found it suitable to conform himself in his ex- 
terior conduct to the other powers. 

The course of France in relation to this country has been equivocal, and rather 
in conformity with that of Spain than otherwise. 

Although the English Minister, Sir Anthony Lamb, immediately upon the first 
indication of a determimition on tlie part of Don Miguel to usurp the throne, with- 
drew, and by his example, in conformity with their instructions, carried with him 
the representatives of most of the other powers of Europe near that Conrt, and al- 
though the Britisli Mpnarch has recently received Dona Maria, and treated her as 
Queen of Portusal; yet from the conduct of Lord Beresford in writing to Don 
Miguel and the Queen Mother, as well as from the British Government having 



APPENDIX A. .",00 

broken iin the depot of Portupcncse refivjrcos at Plymontli. 
Rio Juueiro ; and from the conduct of Lord Str;mi;f()rd ut Uiu 
there as an especial niuiister to accommodato matters hL-lwocn tlio tw 
Don Pedro and Don Migv.el, it is very evident tliat the Hm-rf U n' 
avoiced \wVwy of the Enj^lish Government; and the imprtssicui «.. 
Miguel is distinctly formed that tlie present ministry of En;,'hiii(l mi.hii t-, • 
at the same time they declare that they mean to prcsi rvc n nen-^" 
respects the two parties, and do not intend to interfere with the 'u\\- 
that Kingdom. 

Don Mignel, according to our last advices, had put down nil or;;anizMl ct>'"v. '^i-, 
in his own Kingdom or her dependencies, while Don Pciro, who has f>. 
solved the connection between the two Governments of IJrazil and PiV" 
to have listened with impatience to the oticrs of accommodation pp' 
Strangford, and as guardian of his daughter, to be alout to pro;' 
pedition against his brother, which, however, will be rather the .1 . ''f 

than of his sulijects, who have received with uncommon satist'action the act of 
abdication of the throne of Portugal. 

From all these circumstances, connected with the just approlicnsjon thnt if Kn?- 
land, France, or Spain should openly take part witli cither of the otur 
(Don Pedro and Don Miguel), a war in Europe would bo the consc-iu .. 
inasmuch as the two first named powers are disposed to continuo on go«Hl tcrnw 
with both, it is most probahle that the policy of each will he to w.i' ' *' 
of events : and as soon as time shall have given stability to the Gov. 
Miguel, or other events tend to his overthrow, to make such arr;'. 

him or with the young Queen, Dona Maria, as m;\y conduc- '• '• _. 

advantage. . , , 

I have been led farther into these reflections than is perN 
duty I have to perform, and still I have not gone as far as w. ■ 
cidate ray views. I now turn to our situation. * i. ^ 

Mr. Brent has suspended his connection with the pres.nt Lovornincnt of I ortn- 
gal, evidently as appears from tiie correspondence of tliis Dopartniont w.tli lorn. t-K> 
hastily, and, indeed, it may well be questioned whether ho ought to 
all, inasmuch as the estahlished rule of the United States upon wir. 

various cases proceeded (I refer particularly to the ca>e of tl.o hnmU lUctf), U al- 
ways to acknowledge the Government " (?(!/(/<-^o." ,»„ fl^, \|r 

There are two gentlemen here, both disposed to bo accrod.tcd-tho ftwU Mr. 
Pereira. the Consul General and late Charge d'Atlaires, who suspen.. 
in the latter character after the "s^iT^^tion of Don Miguel, and .^^_ 
desirous to resume them, but having been and bang still unablo to obtain _. 
tions to do so, is not recognized-the other Mr Forlade. ^yl.o . 
after the change, but with credentials from Don Miguel -^^^-^'^ , , . - 

and who consequently has not been received, and does not a>k 10 be, unl.. U ,.^. 
receive new instructions from the actual Government . , ,^,. 

Heretofore and still, the commerce between the two oonntrus hn» .h 
limited, owing to the influence of England, and the in env^l 
irivin- her .-reat and peculiar favors. Our Hour is charge.^. 
gi^aiel ^t^^ouutiugto a l-obUutio,y .uid -nir himljer js jUhk^. ^ ^^^ ^ 
entirelv, excluded, whereas, the wines o Portuga a e l.> a roctnl 
received on more favorable terms than t'^;>';^';;''';,.7; ';';.•. .,(, „„ . • 

There are a few cases of claims '"^•/•f:'*;^" />:,£!;" 
property of our citizens, thejustness of which, «"'\"'« ! ' ' 
Uh acknowledged by the P-'-t^^on-ese Governmen 1 a^t 

this Department from Mr. Prent is dated T^'^^l". "; T'^'^ ' 

F<u-lade, the Charg6 accredited by Don M-guel, «a-* r. 
and our Diplomatic intercourse was then renew eu. 

^'ETIIi:in,ANl>>. 
The relations between the United States and the Iv ' ' ■ • 



coo APPENDIX A. 

assumed an uncommon degree of importance from the circumstance that he has been 
tlie arbiter fixed upon by the United States and Great Ih-itain to determine the dif- 
ference betwfon them in regard to the Northeastern Boundary Line. 

In 1782, a Treaty was fornied between Ilollnhd and the United States wliich 
continued in force until tlie consolidation of the Dutch and ijclgian provinces, and 
the formation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in 1815. 

lu 1809 and subsequently, the illegal acts of the French Government in the ports 
of Holland gave rise to a negotiation between the United States and this Govern- 
ment, in regard to the seizure and sequestration of American property, in which were 
involved the same points and the discussion of tlie same principles with tliose em- 
braced by our negotiation on the subject with Spain and Naples, and wliich had the 
same result. 

The commercial relations between the two countries, although of an important 
and valuable character, are not founded on a Treaty ari-angemeut but upon the 
municipal regulations of the two countries (by Act of Congress of January 7, 1824), 
by which all imports and tonnage ch.-irges, with one unimportant exception in lavor 
of Dutch vessels, are placed on a footing of equality and reciprocity. 

Mr. Hughes represents the United States as Charge d'Atfaires at the Hague, and 
His Netherlands Majesty is represented near this Government by the Chevalier De 
Baugen^an Iluygens, as Envoy Extraoi'dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. 

Preble has since (in 1830), been accredited as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary. The case of the two Governments, the United States and Great 
Britain, has been submitted to their arbitration. 

SWEDEN. 

This was the only country that made a voluntary proffer of its friendship to the 
United States during tlie Revolutionary War, and in consequence thereof a Treaty 
was concluded between the United States and the King of Sweden, in the year 
1783. 

In 1810, another Treaty was concluded, which was ratified in 1818 and expired 
in 1826. 

In 1810, the French being in po?scssion of Stralsund, in Pomerania, placed some 
American property which had been sequestrated, at the disposal of Sweden for 
whose benefit it was sold for 151,000 rix-dollars. This claim was admitted to be 
just by the Swedish Government, and at length settled by a private agreement. 

In 1827, Mr. Appleton negotiated a Treaty with Sweden, which is on the i)rinci- 
ple of the most complete reciprocity as to the vessels of the United States on the 
one band, and of Sweden, Norway, and St. Bartholomew on the other, and in this 
instance, the United States have succeeded in breaking through the European Colo- 
nial system, and obtaining admittance into these settlements on the same terms as 
iuto the mother country. 

On the 5th Decemher last, an event of an unpleasant nature occurred in the port 
of Gustavia, in the Island of St. Bartholomew, which has occasioned the Charge 
d'Atfaires of Sweden to call upon this Government for explanation and redress. 

The f.icts are these : Captain Turner, commanding the United States Sloop of 
"War Erie^ being at St. Martin's, received int'ormalion from the American Consul at 
St. Bartholomew that there was in that port a Buenos Ayrean priv^ateer which 
took out of an American brig ninety-six bales of goods, which the Captain of the 
privateer t-aid he was induced to do in consequence of his having received informa- 
tion from the Second Mate of the Hi/mph and a Brazilian merchant, that they were 
enemy's property. 

Captain Turner immediately went to St. Bartholomew, and by letter required 
the authorities of that island to " cause the said vessel (the Federal), her captain, 
officers, and crew, togetlier with the goods by her imported, to be delivered to him, 
to be disposed of as the Government of the United States may direct." 

This application was made in writing, laid before the Council of Government, 
and a reply given to it in tlie same formal manner, in which it was expressly de- 
clared that the authorities of the island did not feel themselves bound, under the 
circumstances, to accede to Captain Turner's demand. 



APPENDIX A. ()„l 

During the night, Captain Turner sent his boats in and cut il,o Fo.lcr.1 ,.- 

nnder the guns of the tort, shipped his .•ahles and k-ft the ,„.rt 

In a etter dated St. Martin's, December 18«28, tu C..M„no,>oro Kid...' 
Iheiollowingare the grounds on which 1 n.-de iheso cluiinH 
known iact, that the captain of tlie scliooner was well aware of ih- 
the treaty of peace between the Governments of Brazil and Uncu. ' 
captured the goods, having himself first hroii-jit tin- nows of it Tl 
shipped from the Jiraziis have the Jh-azilian stami. up.m tlicin, the 
being thus branded, was not sutlicient to warrant him in his imVr. 
were tlie enemy's property. That the atlidavit of the mate vf tlio br 
not sutlicient, as it was drawn up iu the handwriting of the captain . ; of 

when the mate was on board of the schooner, which vessel ho afterward j.>,.k-.J 
and was immediately after sent from hence." 

From Captain Turner's statement it appears that he conceived Jiimsolf warrwit- 
ed, :f the Federal was a pirate, to take her foroiblv from under tli.- : 
the Swedish Government in St. Bartholomew, in ordi-r tliat .she m ' 
^yit!lin tlie jurisdiciion of the United States, where she now is, ami wlicrc U>- 
tion as to her character must be jndicirdly decided. 

This opinion is, however, manifestly erroneous. Even if .^10 wa." (tht> mnimnr, 
however, is to be inferred fi'om the evidence ])resented to tliis .ii'parf • 'i- 

cal vessel, tlie jurisdiction and authorities of the Swedish Govern' " > 

be respected as competent and well-disposed to deal with licr accord 
is therefore due to the friendly relations subsisting between the two (,. 
disavow the conduct of Captain Turner^and to make .>-ucli other ri ; . • 

circumstances call for, and as is usual iulike cases. 

DENMARK. 

In April, 1826, a convention to regulate the trade and navifrntion b>tw.-'<'n th« 
United States and the Government of this country was conehidod at ^^ -i, 

on the principle of reciprocity of tonnage, importation duties and r' - • ■ I 

does not, however, apply to the northern possessions of the King « ' •<» 

wit, Iceland, the Feroe Islands, and Greenland, nor to iihioes ln-y. ■ f 

Good Hope; the right to regulate the direct intercourse with which | J 

places is reserved by the parties respectively. And it docft not extoi; I 

trade between Denmark and the West India colonics of his Dani>li " "t 

in the intercourse with those colonies, it is agreed that, whatever r. 
imported into or exported from the said colonies in vessels of one |>a ••» 

the ports of the United States, or from or to the ports of any otlicr f. :■ . . 

may, in like manner and with the same duties and charges ai'plirabU' to \ 4 

cargoes, be imported into or exported from the said colonies, in vesweb «>i :iic i'i:.cr 
party, to be in force for two years. 

the citizens of the United States have claims upon Hio D.anisli (. r 

spoliations committed upon their property, ninountinL' in all, in the •• 
1810, to IGO vessels captured, of which, in 1811, -12 were cond.'m 
captures, 18 were what are commonly called " convoy ca-o^. I 
I)resent the most extraordinary instances of the prostration of ncu 
ed during the whole of the contest of that extraordinary period, iimlcr 
circumstances :— They were bound inunediately from IVt.T-bnri; a- 
the United States; they had all paid the Sound dues and sev.T:.! -t • ni 

examined before the Danish marine tribunals on entorini; tlio U'. 
all arre-ted on going out by a British force and coinpclle. to jo :. 
that convoy was attacked by his Danish Majesty'.s uun l.nc^. tl... \ 
conscious of any illegality in the nature of their v... 
their own conduct, made noetlbrts to escape, w.tc c . 

condemned. , ,, . ......in.. ' 

The i^n-ound taken by Denmark was, that a tuM.inu. ... ■ 

protected by one of the belligerents, range, hiinscll on thoM'. 
tlins puts himself in opposition to the enemy of sucb protector. 



T 



602 APPENDIX A. 

By his dispatch, No, 2, d.ated the 22d December, 1827, Mr. Wheaton informed 
this department that a verbal agreement liad been entered into between the Danish 
Goveminent and Mr. Connell, the agent of the chiimants, for indemnity for the 
seizure and detention at Kiel, in 1810, of the American sliips Fair Trader^ Minerva 
Smith, and brig Ariel, by whicli the hitter was to be paid $76,000, and by his 
dispatch, No. 3, dated 4th ]\[arch, 1828, Mr. Wheaton informed this department tliat 
Mr. Connell, the agent,''had received that sum in full payment of these claims. By 
his dispatch. No. 5, dated December 3, 1828, this department was informed tliat the 
Danish Govermnent had decided, in regard to our old claims, to waive the principle 
of the supposed conclusiveness of tlie sentences of the Danish Admiralty tribunals 
upon which it had before so strongly insisted, and that his Danish Majesty had 
directed a report to be made to him of the particulars of those cases, that he might 
be enabled to fox*m a correct judgment of the validity of the complaints growing out 
of them. 

This determination on the part of the King of Denmark may, without antici- 
pating too much, be considered as gaining an important step toward a decision of 
the justice of those claims in favor of our citizens, and an assessment of the amount 
due to them ; but as to the payment of these claims, that, from the extreme poverty 
of tlje Government, is an event not to be soon exjiected, unless they should be com- 
promised for a sum far below the amount due, and this nnder the circumstances, 
it is believed, would be the best course for this Government to pursue. 

PRUSSIA. 

The most friendly relations have at all times subsisted between the United States 
and the King of Prussia. 

In September, 1785, a treaty of the most liberal character was concluded between 
the two countries, and is remarkable in forming an example of a treaty of perfect 
reciprocity. By it blockades of every description are abolished; the Hag covers the 
property, and contrabands are exempted from confiscation. It expired by its own 
limitation in 1795, and was revived in 1799, with, however, very considerable alter- 
ations. On the 1st May, 1828, a treaty of commerce and navigation Avas concluded 
at Washington, and laid before the Senate, who by their resolution of the 14th of 
tliat month, advised and consented to its ratification. 

By letter received the 15th February, 1829, the Charge d' Affaires of Prussia, Mr. 
Niederstetter, informed the Secretary of State that lie had received the Prussian 
ratification, and was ready to exchange it for that of the United States. In reply, 
the Secretary of State apprized Mr. Niederstetter of the President's intention not to 
proceed to the exchange proposed by him in consequence of the expiration of the 
time stipulated for that exchange by the terms of the treaty. 

On the day of March, 1829, the treaty was submitted by the President to 

the Senate for their advice and consent to its exchange, who, by their resolution of 
the 9th d.iy of the same month, advised and consented that the President should 
proceed to the exchange, and it was dime on the 14th day of March, 1829. 

NAPLES. 

There is not at present any diplomatic intercourse between the United States 
and the Government of this country, although we have very large claims for 
spoliations, to the justice of which the only answer that ever has been given is, 
that the present Government is not responsible, because they were occasioned by 
the unlawful acts resulting from the power of Napoleon, through King Murat iwho 
was for years til e established and acknowledged sovereign of this people), and that 
the proceeds did not go into the public treasury, but to feed the caprices and the 
Oriental pomp of the family of Murat and his adherents. 

These acts of violence were perpetrated under circumstances the most perfidious. 
The American merchants were drawn within the reach of confiscation by the ex- 
press invitation of the Government to prosecute in the ports of Naples their com- 
mercial iiursuits, and were there seized and sold or converted to the use of the 



APPENDIX A. (J03 

Ml-. Pinkuey, of Baltimore, on his way to St. Petersburg a« onvor. w,. ^. 

ed to make application to this Court for in.Ieinnitv, wLiH, ho .liJ iu a v 
but luetiectual manner, and thus this question remains at tliis time, 

AUSTRIA. 

On tlie 31st July, 1828, the Baron de Lederer informed the donartrnt-nt iHm U 

was turnished with full powers, togetlier wiili tlie necessary in ' 

cliidinira convention of commerce and navi^Mtion on term's of 

Avith this country ; and in consequence thereof a negotiation liad been c 

Washington for sometime between the Secretarv of State on the pn- ■ ' ■ 

States, and Barnn De Lederer to tliat end, and tiio terms of n . • 

a^n-eed upon. But at tlie moment when it was about to be si>rni-d, i 

Plenipotentiary considered himself under tlio necessity of npplving t«i I 

ment for in-^trnctions and authority to execute such a 'treaty, n'ml tlins • -r 

rests at present. This is the only negotiation ever carried on b' ' ■ ' ' ' 

althougli their relations have not been in the least degree u; 

point of fact, hardly a possibility of collision betweentlicni. 

HANSEATIC CITIES. 

In -Tune, 1827, a treaty was concluded and ratified at "Wnshinptnn, hcfw«^n tKn 
Free Hanseatic Cities and Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Iliiiiib'sr;:. ' 
places the commerce between the United States and tiie Free Ciiio-i on t 
entire reciprocity, and is to continue for twelve year."*, and nflor thil 
twelve months' notice by either party to the other, of an intention to tcrm;;.;*:^ ;'.. 

MEXICO. 

Tlie relations between the Government of the United States and thi< ^{cnnWio 

are unsettled, the recent .'ulminis! ration of its atfairs not having bv • 
feelings of a very friendly character toward tlie Unitctl Staio-i. \ 
however, taken jdace, accompanied by force and mucli irregularitr, and ticnfrmi 
Guerrero is made President. 

A treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between tho rnitotl 
Mexico was concluded at Mexico on tlie 14tli February, 1S2"^, la; • 
of the United States for its ratification, and by their resolution o; 
the Senate advised and consented to its ratification. ^ 

Mr. Poinsett, the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister I'lor ■- ' 

United States near the Mexican Government, by bis dispatch, 
Mav, 1828, informed this Department that tlio Mexican ( 
without having ratified the treaty, and no intelligence has 1 
ing subsequently been ratified. On the contrary, it is ui. 
from our minister) that the Congress of the ^lexican S' 
bv striking out several of its articles, but had not linallv ■ 

Mr. Poinsett's des])ntch, No. , dated the — , '■■'.-'•. ' 

was informed that the Congress of Mexico was in session, but ut uotl..... ... . 

the treaty. i >f • 

A treaty of l-imits between the United btates and .M.'\ 
signed at Mexico on the 12tli of January, 1S28. received ^ 
laid before the Senate of tho United States, who by their r. 
the same month, advised and consented to its rati' 
of 24th April, 1828, Mr. Poinsett informed tiie Se 
had been ratified by the Mexican Il.nise of nei;rcsvnt;iiiv.H. 
Senate, and ()y a despatch of the 2tith of April, that :' '' "' ■ 

preceding day. ,, ,^i , . * 

Bv letter dated the 2d April, 1828, Mr. Obrogon, mini,.. 



604 



APPENDIX A. 



the Secretary of State of Lis having received the Mexican ratification of the Treaty 
of Limits, and of his readiness to proceed to its exchange. By letter dated tlie 2d of 
August, Mr. Obregon was informed that his note had been submitted to tlie Presi- 
dent, vrho did not think himself at liberty to proceed to the exchange of the ratifica- 
tions after the expiration of the period within which, hy tlie term of the treaty, such 
exchange oou'ht to have heen effected, and that it would again be submitted to the 
Senate at their ensuing session for their advice and consent as to said exchange, 
wliich was not done. 

The Government of the United States have no interest in this Treaty of Limits as 
the same boundaries are by it establislied between the two countries as were settled 
between tlie United States and Spain by the Florida Treaty, Avhich in this respect is 
equally obligatory upon Mexico as upon Spain — the former having acquired all the 
territory held by the latter and no more ; and, indeed, it is well woi-thy of considera- 
tion, whether an alteration, very advantngeous to the LTuited States, might not be 
made by giving the country west of the moimtains to Mexico, in exchange for that 
which lies between our present boundary and the Rio del Norte? 

COLOMBIA. 

In October, 1824, the United States concluded by their Minister at Bogota a com- 
mercial convention with this Republic, which was the first treaty of any kind 
formed with either of t'le South American States. Its provisions are generally of a 
liberal kind, placing the commerce of the respective parties upon the footing of the 
most favored nation, and under it our commerce has been carried on with occasional 
but not very serious interruption. 

This country in its extent, soil, climate, and productions, equal if not superior to 
any other in the world, has, in common witli all the South American States, been 
exposed to iutestine divisions and civil wars, and a recent change has been effected 
in its Government not very auspicious to the continuance of the free character of its 
institutions. 

Bolivar, in whom is centred all tlie power of its government, has recently de- 
clared war against the Republic of Peru, and these neighboring powers are now 
probably engaged iu a fierce contest. 

The latter power requested the mediation of the United States, to which this 
Government has yielded, and our Minister to Colombia has been instructed to use all 
the means in his power to induce that government to avail itself of our good offices 
to effect a reconciliation. 

General Harrison, appointed Envoy Extraordinary nnd Minister Plenipotentiary 
to Colomliia, left New York in November last, but this Department is not yet in- 
formed of his arrival at Bogota. 

On tlie day of March instant, that minister Avas recalled, and Mr. Moore, of 
Ivonrucky, appointed in his stead, who will proceed to the capital of Colombia with 
all possible dispatch. 

FEDERATION OF TEE CENTRE OF AMERICA. 

This country is at present, and has been f )r some time past, tlie scene of the 
most cruel civil war ; a war commenced and continued by the power and infiuence of 
rival families; and from a statement made to this Department by our Consul, who 
has recently returned to the United States, Mr. Savage, we are led to think that the 
soldiery have become of the most licentious cliaracter, that all civil Government will 
be abolished, and tlie whole country given up to a predatory warfire. 

In December, 1825, a convention of Peace, Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, 
Avns concluded at Washington, by which the commerce of the two countries was 
placed on " the basis of perfect equality and reciprocity," each giving to the other 
the right of every sort of trade, and in every article of c'linmerce, only excepting 
the coasting trade and subjecting neither in the ports of the other to any higher 
rate of duties than their own citizens or subjects. 

At Guatemala, on the 22d December last, the property of Captain W. Phillips, 
an American citizen, was forcibly taken frum liim by the officers of that Govern- 



APPENDIX A. gj)5 

"'S'i'e^,mlt^^f.'''^'?'''"^'?^*,^•.'^'•^^^y ^''° sum of cloven l.nn.!r..! .',.".-. .' -.^ 
A\ as d.,i.e uiuler the pretence of infikin- a loan from this i,„livi.' 
lh,s IS a course of procecnlmg that has heon exien.lea very for - 
Guatemak ; but m tins case alone, it is believo.l, npainst the citi. 
The Execimve officer at Omoo, it is I.elieve.I ^vitho.>l ih 
Grovermnent of Central America, has recently made an c-xa.tion ■ 
ditional duty to what has been claimed on the trans-shipment of >. 
goods m this port for a torei^'ii market."' 

lie has also forcibly taken possession of a quantity of American pnxlure from 
the American Brig Stephen. i " "^^ 

The same Commandant, on the 13th January last, ordorcl Mr. Hosmer. »h.. »m 
appointed by the Consnl, \iceConsul at Urcoa, but not accredited bv tlu. Cnxtm- 

ment ot that Kepiiblic, in a very arbitrary and improper mnnnor nt.-l'' ' 

pelled him to take down tlie American tiag boisUd in cnn<f,|nonrc «•: 

General Verveer, His Netherland, Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary nr..i .Mi.,..i«r 

Jrlenipotentiary. 

Of all these acts, Mr. Savage, our Consul, made stronp repre«entatif.n« to th« 
Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of C to 

which no answer has, as yet, been received. It is to besupimsr.. r- 

teous conduct, in regard to the flag, is to be imputed to the fact tlint Mr. l|.>Mner wm 
not accredited as a Vice-Consul, but merely as an avont of the Consul, ami to Ui« 
irritation which probably arose out of that'distinction. 

BRAZIL. 

The relations between the United States and the Einporor of I'.r ' 
long time, of an irritating and uni)leasant, character, iu the war! 
and Buenos Ayres, recently terminated, this Government, wliolly di 
L'iw of nations and the rights of neutrals, declared tlio whole oft: ' 

enemy in a state of blockade, and even committed the gros.'^cst violatim "s 

"which were resisted in a becoming spirit by our Charge d'Aflairo'*. 

These events, and the conduct of our Rei)rcsentativc having Irnnpht nnrr.-r. t.. 
a crisis, the Brazilian Government sent a representative to Washingtnii, v 
to make atonement and reparation, and an engagenu-nt was cnti-rod in'-v 
the claims of our citizens for spoliations were to he ailju-ted and paid. \\\ 
in successful progress by a commission mutually appointed by the two Governinctits 
and now assembled at Rio de Janeiro. 

A Commercial Convention was also negotiated and conchi(le<l br Mr. Tn<!or. 
Charge d'Affaires of the United States at the capital of this Einp'' " 

exchangL'd at the city of Washington in the pre>ent montli of M • . 

commercial intercourse between the two countries is placed on the ba-i» of • jo»t 
and equal reciprocity. 

Mr. Tudor has asked and obtained leave to come liomo.* It therofDro Ixjcoroci 
important, not only as it regards the settlement of our claims under 
mission, but in regard to the course this governiueut pur«ii<'> as to !>.■ 
his place should be immediately supplied. 

PERU, CHILI, AND BUENOS AVKKS. 

The Governments of these countries respectively are, like the olli.-^ "*" ' ■•• 

Southern portion of this continunt, in an un-ettlod .-tate. .,,.., 

Our relations with them all are friendly, although wo have not a tn.>»0 ^ »- J 

kind with either. ,-,.■,. i i ii.wii«r.« 

(Signed) Jamkj* A. II*>«itTt>3«. 

To THE President of the United States. 



* It was afterward intimated thnt he wished »■■■ i-'>> '"" 
treaty (12th December, 182S), he died. 



an J aA- 



600 



APPENDIX A. 



SUPPLEMENTAL PvEPORT— NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY LINE. 
Abstkact OF Proceedixgs under the Fifth Article of the Treaty of Ghent axd 

I'NDER THE CoNVENTIOX OF 1827. 

The adverse claims of the United States and Great Britain respecting tlie bound- 
ary line which separates the State of Maine from the British Provinces of New Bruns- 
wick (formerly a part of Nova Scotia) and Lower Canada, arise from the contiicting 
interpretations given by the two Governments to the stipulations contained in the 
Second Article of the Treaty of Peace of 1783, between the United States and Great 
Britain ; which stipulations are in the following words: 

"Art. 2: And that all disputes wliich might arise in future, on the subject of the Bound- 
aries of the said United States, may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that 
the following arc, and shall be their boundaries, viz.; from the Northwest angle of Nova 
Scotia, viz., that angle which is formed by a line diawn due nortli from the source of the St. 
Croix River to the highlands ; along the said highlands, which divide those rivers that empty 
themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the 
Northwe.*ternmost head of Connecticut River, thence down along the middle of that river, to 
the forty-Mfih degree of north latitude ; from thence hyaline due West, on said latitude, 
until it strilces the River Iroquois or Cataraguy." 
****** **'******** 

" East by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in 
the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly North, to the aforesaid high- 
lands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean, from those which fall into the 
River St. Lawrence." 

That part of the foregoing stipnlafion which establishes the eastern boundary of 
the United States ahmg the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy 
to its source, and thence directly north to the Highlands w^hich divide tlie rivers 
that fall into the Atlantic ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence, 
settles all doubt which might have arisen from the former disputes between Great 
Britain and Fraoce respecting the boundaries of their respective possessions in North 
America. 

And that part which establishes the northern boundary of the United States 
from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia along the Highlands which divide those 
rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into 
the Atlantic ocean and along the forty-fifih parallel of north latitude, until it strikes 
the river Iroquois or Cataraguy, was founded upon various British ofhcial documents 
of prior date, among which are : 

First. — The Roynl Proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763, erecting the Pro- 
vinces ceded by France to Great Britain, by the Treaty of Paris of 1763, into four 
separate Governments ; and among these that of Quebec (now Lower Canada), with 
its boundaries described in the following words : 

" Bounded on the Labrador coast by the river St. John, and from thence by a line drawn 
from the head of that river through the Lake St. John to the south end of the lake, nigh 
Pissin ; from whence the said line, crossing the river St. Lmcrcnce and the Lake Charuplaln m 
forly-Jive digrees of north latitude, passes along the highlands which divide the rive»-s thiit empty 
themselves into the said river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the sea, and also along 
the north coast of the Bag des Chaleurs, and the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape 
Jio.iiercs ; and from thence crossing the mouth of the river St. Lawrence by the west coast 
of the Island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid river St. John." 

Second. — An Act of Parliament (14 Geo. III., cap. S3), 1774, for making more 
eftectual provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec in North Amer- 
ica. 

This Act defines tlie boundaries of the Province of Quebec (now Lower Canada) 
in the following w^wrds : 

" Bounded on the south by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs along the highlands which 
divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river Saint Lawrence from those which fall 



APrENDlX A. QQf 

into the sea, to a point in forty-five de-roes of iioriliorn latinulo on thr ^^^ 
nver Connecticut, keeping the said hititude ilireeilv we.>t, ihv,v ' 
in the fa ne latitude it meets the river Saint Lawrence; 'from i 
the said river to the Lake Ontario, &;c." 

Tlie Royal Proclamation, and the Act of Parliament (Hiot-l :. 
though ill different words, in cslal>lishiiig the soiitliorn b«.tini!nrv . . 
Quebec by which it is separated from Nova Scotia (now New \ir\m>>^^ 
the Province of Maine, from the Bay of Chaleurs, alonff tlie I ' " 
the rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawn : 
fall into the sea, to a point (.n the forty-liJtli ])aralKl of norlli latitude. . 
the Act of Parliament lixes on tlie e:istefu bank of the river Coiincctictit 
river intersects the said parallel, thence along said parallel across fjikc « 
to the St. Lawrence. 

Such was the bonndary between the Province of Quebec on the one m !.-. nr ! 
the Provinces of Nova Scotia and Maine on the otiicr, at the date of tlj. 
Peace of 1783, when Great liritain, iu order to establish the limir- ' 
United States and her North American Provinces, agreed to tho stii 
2d Article of said Treaty, which adopted the line above do.xc 
to separate the Province of Quebec from the territories of the ' 
order to define the boundary between the said territories on theeo.**!, at »• 

vince of Nova Scotia, established said bound:irv, 1st. Along the rlv. - ^ 
its source, and thence along a line due north, until it meets the h 
divide the rivers emptying into the St. Lawrence from those \\ ..c 

Atlantic ocean, at a point which determines tiic nortliwest angle > . . 

Under this clause of the 2d Article of the Treaty of 1783, two (pu to 

wit : 

Fii'st. — Which was the true river St. Croix referred to in that Article, from 
whose source the due north line was to be drawn ; and 

Second, Which are the highlands forming, with the duo north lino, t'- - "h- 
■west angle of Nova Scotia, and along which the boundary line between •«! 

States and the Province of Quebec is to run ? 

The first of these questions was put at rest by the decision of tho mix. .! mm;---*- 
sion appointed in pursuance of the 5th Article of the Treaty of Amity, t 
and Navigation between the United States and Great Britain, conrlud ' 
November, 1794; which decision i^ contained in tlair declaratitm da: 
Ehode Island, the 25th October, 1793, and determines, "what riv. 
tended nnder the name of the River Saint Croix, mentioned in tlu' . 
of 1783, as forming part of the boundary therein described/' 

With regard to the second question, diirerent construction-^ v, • 
contracting'parties upon the words of the Treaty of 17S3, desc: 
which were to intersect the due north line, forming with it tla- in 
of Nova Scotia, and constituting the boundary line from that | "i; • 
westernmost head of the Connecticut river. 

Great Britain contended that these highlands were found to. 
near the due north line, called Mars Hill, within forty mi.es 1 
which determines the source of the Saint Croix ; and lliat thcr. 
contemplated by the Treaty of 1783, must begin at this point, u... .^ .. 
be the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and j.ass along the M,mi..U ..far 
divides the streams tributary to the St. Jolm trom those whie - -^-a -'- 

Ocean; until it meets tho northwesterniuost head ot tie nvo; ' 

The United States contended that tho highlands ront. 
were to be found near one hundred miles further, toilowing . 
point near the sources of the Restigouehe, and on the cre^t-H ^ 
form the dividing ridge between the rivers which ctnpfv 
Lawrence, and the tributary streams of tlic St. John, and oi • 

the ocean. i • .i .< • ^ ■ " ' ''.-T"..-.'. .1 

These diflerent constructions ot the wm-ds in tla -■ 
1783 became a subiect of di-nission botwoeii the Ainor.. .. .^ ^^^ .•,.-:. i 

tiaJ-i^es who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent ; /V,^ by a ,.rv,^...» ^^ •- ,-• ' 



608 



APPENDIX A. 



the British Plenipotenti.aries, "so to vary the line of frontier as to secure a direct 
communication between Quebec and Halifax; " and, >iccondly, by the suggestion, 
from the same source, of "a doubt," whether the territory in dispute, " did not 
already belong to Great Britain." 

The tirst proposition, "So to vary the line of frontier as to secure a direct com- 
munication between Quebec and Halif ix," contains an implied assumption, by the 
British Plenipotentiaries, of the American construction of the Treaty of 1783. 

The sug^'estion, made some time afterward, of a doubt, whetiier the territory 
in dispute did not already belong lo Great Britain, appears to be the tirst time that 
the correctness of that construction was questioned. 

Tiie result of this discussion was a proposition on the part of the British Pleni- 
l>otentiaries to refer the whole subject to Commissioners. 

And accordingly, the following stipulations were agreed upon by both parties, 
and constitute the 5th Article of the Treaty, signed at Ghent, on the 24th December, 
1814. 

" Art. 5. Whereas neither that point of the highlands lying due north from the source of 
the River St. Croix, and designated in the former Treaty of Peace between the two Powers 
as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, nor the northwesterumost head of Connecticut 
Kiver has yet been ascertained ; and whereas, that part of the boundary line between the 
dominions of the two Powers which extends from the source of the river St. Croix directly 
north, to the above-mentioned northwest angle of Nova Scotia, thence along the said high- 
lands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from 
those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean to the north westernmost head of Connecticut river; 
thence down the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; thence by a 
line due west, on said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraguy, has not been 
ret surveyed ; it is agreed that, for those several purposes, two Commissioners shall be ap- 
pointed, sworn and authorized to act exactly in the manner directed with respect to those 
mentioned in the next preceding Article, unless otherwise specified in the present Article. 
The said Commissioners shall meet at St. Andrew's, in the Province of New Brunswick, and 
shall have ]iower to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. The said 
Commissioners shall have power to ascei tain and determine the points above-mentioned, in 
conformity with the provisions of the said Treaty of Peace of 17S3, and shall cause the 
boundary afoi'esaid, from the source of the river St. Croix to the river Iroquois or Cataraguy, 
to be surveyed and marked, according to the said provisions. The said Commissioners shall 
make a map of the said boinidary, and annex it to their declaration under their hands and 
seals, ccrt'fying it to be the true map of the said boundary, and particularizing the latitude 
and longitude of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, of tlie northwesterumost head of 
Connecticut river, and of such other points of the said boundary as they may deem proper. 
And both parties agree to consider such map and declaration as finally and conclusively 
fixing the said boundary. And, in the event of the said two Commissioners difl'ering, or 
both, or either of them, refusing, or declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such reports, 
declarations, or statements shall be made by them, or either ct tliem, and such reference to a 
friendly Sovereign or State shall be made, in all respects as in the latter part of the fourth 
Article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was beiein repeated." 

In compliance with the provisions of the article above recited, Cornelius P. 
Van Ness, a Commissioner on the part of the United States, and Thomas Barclay, 
appointed a commissioner on behalf of Ilis Britannic Majesty, met at St. Andrew's 
in the Province of New Brunswick on the 23d September, 1816, and proceeded to 
execute the duties assigned to them. 

These duties were 

To ascertain and determine 

First, The point in the highlands designated in the Treaty of 1783, as the north- 
west angle of Nova Scotia. 

Second, The northwesterumost head of Connecticut river. 

Third, To cause to be surveyed and marked, " in conformity wit'' the Treaty of 
1783, that i>art of the boundary line which extends from the source of the river St. 
Croix directly north to the northwest angle of Nova Scotia; thence along the 
highlands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the St. Lawrence from 
those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connec- 



ArPliNDlX A. 

icut river; thence down the middle of that rivor to tl.e fortylfifih nar,lVl r>f n...-, 
latitude ; and along said parallel to tl,e river Iroquois or C'atirau-uv 

fourth, lo nial^e a map of the said boundary. '" 

Fifth To particularize, in their declaration, "the latitiulo nn.l lon,.ii.Hl. ..( •> « 
northwest angle ot Nova Scotia— of the northwcsterniuom he " T 

river, and of such other points of tlie said boundary ns iIr-v inftv .1 

In the discharge of their duties, tlie Connnissioncrs continued t.. 
from time to time, at different places. Agents were appointed on I., 
ploring and surveying parties were organized, .ind a-tronomer« w. 
who entered upon the performance of tbeir duties on behalf • ■ l 

Governments, acting separately, but comnninicnting to each otluT. : 
in compHance with their instructions, tbe results of their c.xi>Ioralions mi- i 

astronomical observations, and submitting^ tlrrough the respective ngontji. ju. 
tions in dispute to the decision of tlie Commissioners. 

The final result of these operations was tbat conflicting ropor- 
veys, and discordant astronomical results were filed before the C'<...,. 
after a full hearing of the arguments presented by the agent* on l«.- 
municated to each other, on the 4th October, lS-21, their respective dtc;a.'-a;;ou* of 
disagreements, in substance as follows : 

First. — As to the northwest angle of Nova Scotia. 

Mr. Barclay, the British Commissioner, was of o])inion tlmt "!'■ * •> '• • ■ •• •' • -^ 
be establislied at, or near a mountain or hill called Man If ill, .. y 

miles, on a due north line from tbe source of the river t^t. Croix, ai^l &U>u: li.i.-:/ 
seven miles south of the river St. John." 

Mr. Van Ness, the American Commissioner, was of opinion that "" t 

ought to be fixed at a place about one hundred and forty-four miles duo i •« 

the source of the river St. Croix, and about sixtv-six niiiod north of tb' -:. 

John." 

Second. — As to the nortbwesternmost head of Connecticut Hivor. 

Mr. Barclay thought "that it is situate at the nortbwesternmost stivatn wh rh 
empties into the third lake of Connecticut River, north of the 45th degrc« of nortil 
latitude. 

Mr. Van Ness thought that " that point ought to be established at th« he«<l of 
the Indian stream." 

Third.— A^ to the establishment of the 45th parallel of north latitude, Mr. lljr. '.ij 
was of opinion 

" That tlie point established by Doctor Tiurks, hi^ Majesty's a»trpn<>fTr'«r, ■ - 
geographical principles, to be the 45tli degree of north hilitude, on C 
Kiver, is the point which ought to be establislied by the CommUsioaer* u^ ... 
46th degree of north latitude on the said river," and ^ ..... 

"That the modes or principles on wbicli tbe parallel of t' • 
latitude ought to be run, surveyed, and marked, sli<«i:M ' ■ 
geographical principles."' . r . i •— 

On these points, Mr. Van Ness "concluded that it wo : .: : -* - -n 

to report any opinion on the questions which have been made : ? 

line from Connecticut River to the Kiver Iroquois.'; ,, .. , ..„:, .,v , 

On the 1.1th April, 1822, tbe Board a.ljouri%d »»h- d,^, subject to U^ a^ ^ I 
together by the contending parties. This adjourmnent virtually j.r 
tion of the Board, since it never was again convened ; nn 
ceedings, their records, and the maps and surveys lilcl I.- 
in duplicate, among the archives of the respective P^r^"";^;'---^ . . 

This first of the two modes proposed by tbe Sthnrticle of t!-' "T- . . . f 
the adjustment of the matters in dillVrenco between ti>o iw • 
ing their territorial limits, having failed, by the tli<::- 
appointed for that purpose, the two Powers reinai.;- 

points: i ,• v l which ■•• 't' •' 

First.— The location ot the north we4, angle ot_ V . s 

mine the highlands conieniplated hy tiie Treaty ot . _ 
Second.— The north westernmost head ot ConneoUcut i. 

39 



610 APPENDIX A. 

Third. — The principles to be adopted in deterraintng the parallel of the 45th de- 
gree of north latitude, the British Commissioner contending for the ordinary 
Geosraphical principles; the American Commissioner contending for the principle 
of Geocentric latitude, but declining to make a declaralion upon that point. 

The second mode of settling tlie question yet remained; it is found in the 4th 
Article of the Treaty of Ghent, to which reference is made by the 5th article with 
respect to the means of adjusting the disputes, in the words following : 

" It is further agreed that, in the event of tlie two Commissioners differing upon all or 
any of the matters so referred to them, or in the event of both or either of tlie said Com- 
missioners refusing or declining, or wilfully omitting to act as such, tliey shall raalce jointly 
or separately a report or reports, as well to the Government of his Britannic Majesty as to 
that of the United States, stating, in detail, the points on which they differ, and the grounds 
upon which their respective opinions have been formed, or the grounds upon which they, or 
either of them, have so refused, declined, or omitted to act ; and his Britannic Majesty and 
the Government of the United States hereby agree to refer the report or reports of the said 
Commissioners to some friendly Sovereign or State to be then named for that purpose, and 
who shall be requested to decide on the differences which may be stated in the said report 
or reports, or upon the report of one Commissioner, together with the grounds upon which 
the other Commissioner shall have refused, declined, or omitted to act, as the case may be; 
and if the Commissioner so refusing, declining, or omitting to act, shall .also wilfully omit to 
state the grounds upon wliich he has so done, in such manner that the said statement may be 
referreil to such friendly Sovereign or State, together with the report of such other Commis- 
sioner, then such Sovereign or State shall decide, exparte., upon the said report alone. And 
his Britatniic M;ijesty and the Government of the United States engage to consider the de- 
cision of such friendly Sovereign or State to be final and conclusive on all the matters so 
referred." 

In June, 1824, at a conference between the American and British Plenipoten- 
tiaries, held at London, the former made an inetfectual attempt to refer the subject 
to "direct negotiation between the two Governments." This mode of settling the 
dispute not meeting the views of the British Government, Mr. Gallatin, then Minis- 
ter at London, entered into negotiations, in 1827, with the Plenipotentiaries of his 
Majesty's Government, and on the 29th of September of that year, concluded a 
Convention providing for the reference to a friendly Sovereign or State of the mat- 
ter in controversy, and determining the manner in which the question was to belaid 
before him — the nature of the evidence to be adduced by tiie respective parties in 
support of their claims, and limiting tlie time within which the various steps to- 
ward the accomplishment of that object were to be taken. 

The Convention was transmitted to "Washington, laid before the Senate of the 

United States, who, by their Resolution, on the February, 1828, advised and 

consented to its ratification; it was accordingly ratified by the President, and sent 
back to London, where the Ratifications were exchanged on the 2d of April, 1828, 
from which date, according to the terms of the Convention, are to be counted the 
intervals of time within which the various steps toward the proposed reference are 
to be taken. 

Art. I. — The first article provides for the reference of the question to a friendly 
Sovereign or State, who shall be invited to investigate and decide upon the points 
of ditiVrence ; and the two parties engage to proceed in concert to the choice of 
such friendly Sovereign or State immediately after the exchange of the Ratifica- 
tions, and to use their best endeavors to obtain a decision within two years after the 
arbiter shall have consented to act as such. 

Accordingly by instructions to Mr. Lawrence, Charg6 d'Aflfaires of the United 
States at London, dated the 20th February, 1828, the Secretary of State in trans- 
mitting the American ratification of the Convention and in instructing him to pro- 
ceed to its exchange, directed him to enter into negotiation with the British Gov- 
ernm nt for the choice of an arbiter; to make or receive proposals for the same; 
and finally, to agree upon one of the three Sovereigns of Russia, Denmark, or the 
Netherlands, in the order in which they are named. 

The correspondence of Mr. Lawrence on the subject shows the manner in which 



APPENDIX n. 



on 



the neo-otiation was conducted ; and his dispntcl. \o V, int. ' •'• -- • • 

acquaints the Department of State with its result, which w 

Nethedands had tinally been agreed upon hv both piirties to he t 

ineffectual attempts on the part of Uv. Lawronoo to iiuhu-o f 

to agree first to the Emperor of Rii-siu, and thi-n to th- Kincof I ■ 

to his instructions. The same dispatcli submitti'd, for the arprovu 

Government, the form of a note proposed bv tlio Hritish Minis'.T t. 

eously addressed to the Government of tlie "Norlierl.inrjs bv tho 

the two nations at the Hague, apprizing th.^ King of the sclecti. ■ 

arbiter, and requesting him to take that oftico upon himself. ' 

On the 14th October, 1828, instructions wore tran-mirtod to Mr. IT ' 
d'Affaiies of the United States to the Nethc'rlands, directinp hini to n 
application to the Government of tliat country for tlic consent of l! 

assume the office of arbiter, and to express the entire contidencc of ll.v . . ... 

the justice of his Majesty. 

It is not yet known at the Department of State what ha- " ' " " 

application, nor whether the British G.ivernment has taken : 
meet this ready compliance on the part of the United State.s w'uti'nll t 
tions of the first article of the Convention. The King accopte<l t'- ' - 
cided a p'dnt not committed to him, and thus thi-t effort at a !>cttl' 
ern Boundary Line question was left to Mr. Webster, who s«ottlo 1 iu 

James A. Hamilton, SecreUry of Stat*. 



i« 
•.o 



APPENDIX B. 



A LETTER ADDKESSED TO A DISTINGUISHED MEMBKU OF HIE CHICAOO COXTtTtlOJI. 

Nevis, Dobbs Feuky P. 0., Xovemlxr 26. 1843. 

Deae Sie : Your very kind letter of the ICth inst. intimates a rcirrcl that I HH 

not avail myself of an opportunity at the Cidrago Couvei.tion, •■• '» 

express the views in relation to the present ami tiie future of the < h 

I have touched in our various conversations; and a wish that I would in rojlr writ« 
what I might have spoken there. 

In compliance with your request, but with extreme reluctance from a ■ i 

that I can say nothing worthy of the subject, I throw togotlicr sotno « « 

which others may extend with advantage. . 

The resources of the West, I tliink I may say without exagpcration, id I 

and agricultural wealth, present afield of entiTpriso nevor I ' ' 

part; of the world. To develop the resources of that vast re.. 

require : .• i «■• . . 

First, The exercise of the constitutional power of onrn.itionaHioTcn.'-. .. .. 

open the avenues of commerce between the Western rivers and laW»», »• 

lantic seaboard ; 

Second, Abundant capital ; ,• • <• 

And Last. A hardy population. These three condition!* of ^ 

vinced, are within our reach. The extent of thn region wil Ik. :. 

following leading facts. The valley of the Mississippi, bound-d on , 

Eocky Mountains, and on the other by the Alloghaiues .- 

one million and a quarter square miles, whidi is more tli:i:: 

of the United States. The internal navigation of the m^^ 

about 9000 miles in extent. "The Mi-Mssii-iM valley, n 

considered as one great plain between two divergm:;_<-oa^^ 

400 to 800 feet above the sea." The surhice swells into . ^ 

by forest nnd prairie ; a»'^ <?^^'l'l«V'^' •'V'^u-^'" 7'In oitiilr thai oo lb« r»"^ 
soil is uniformly fertile, easily cultivated (" mdocd, oo c»-.l.r that oo r 



612 APPENDIX B. 

four furrows are turned *l)y a single pair of horses"), and yields a most abundant 
return. The climate is Iiealtliy and invigorating. 

The dimensions of the five great American Lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, 
Erie, and Ontario, extend over an area of more than 90,000 square miles. The area 
drained by these lakes is estimated at over 330,000 square miles, and their shore 
lines nearly 5000 miles in extent, exceeding those of the Atlantic Coast by 1500 miic's. 

The annual value of the commerce of these lakes reaches $450,000,000, carried 
by a fleet of 1,G43 vessels of 413,026 tons, and valued at $13,250,000. 

This region comprises nine States of the Union, with a population of nine millions 
of hardy and intelligent people; when energy and enterprise has connected its com- 
mercial points by railways extending more than 11,000 miles; the value of whose 
annual product^ according to the census table, was in 1860 : in wheat 89^ millions 
bushels c-.rn 392,250,000 bushels, oats 62,700,000 bushels, rye 4,000,000 bushels, 
barley 4,865,000 bushels. Total cereals over 553,000,000 bushels. Of hogs, over 
11 000,000 head, and of cattle, 7,204,000 head. 

This census, taken in 1860, was the product of the year 1859. The receipts at 
Chicago for the year 1862 show an increase of cereals of 196 per cent., in hogs, 400 
per cent, and in cattle, 87 per cent. 

To transport these products in their crude state would require 64,400 locomo- 
tives, each hauling 8,500 bushels. When it is known that these vast quantities are 
produced by the cultivation of less than 16 per cent, of the area capable of cultivation, 
the quantity that will be produced when the necessary avenues of commerce shall 
be opened to a market, staggers the imagination. 

To show how inadequate the existing means of transportation are, the report of 
the Commissioner on statistics for the city of Chicago, from which these figures are 
taken, states that " the prairie farmer often finds it more profitable to consume it'' 
(the Indian corn) "for fuel than to ship it to the seaboard, and that portion which is 
retailed to the New Enghind operative at 60 cents per bushel, nets to him less thnn 
nine cents, the difference being used up in freights and commissions. All this is 
exclusive of that vast region adapted to the production of cotton, sugar, and rice, by 
its two essential meteorological conditions of heat and moisture lying between 
^0 and 36 degrees of North latitude, the Atlantic coast, and the herd lands of Texas. 

Within this area, there are millions of acres which have never been touched by 
the foot of a white man, into which if one half of the whole laboring class of the 
. continent of Europe were thrown, they would not be densely populated. 

The metallic wealth to which I have referred consists of inexhaustible stores of 
gold and silver, and the more precious metals of iron, copper, and lead. The coal 
'■fields of Illinois alone are equal to all those of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

First: As to the constitutional power of Congress to construct or improve the 
channels of commercial intercourse. Relying upon the opinions of the fathers, upon 
the action of the Government, and the express powers given to Congress by the Con- 
stitution, it may be said with full confidence, that the constitution gives Congress full 
power to open and improve such channels of commercial communication as are natur- 
al. As to the authority of the fathers, Thomas Jeflerson, in 1801, announced, that 
among the leading objects of the Constitution was the encouragement of Agriculture, 
and of Commerce its handmaiden. Again, Mr. Jeftersou in his confidential com- 
munication to Congress of the 18th January, 1803, suggesting the expediency of 
authorizing a small exploring expedition to the source of the Missouri river, who 
hiio-ht explore the whole line even to the Western Ocean, remarked, that "while 
other civilized nations have encountered great expense to enlarge the boundaries of 
' knowledge, by nndertaking voyages of discovery, and for other literary purposes in 
various parts and directions; our nation seems to owe to the same object as well as 
to its own interests to explore this, the only line of easy communication across the 
continent, and so directly traversing our own part of it. The interests of commerce 
place the principal object within the constitutional powers and care of Congress, and 
that it should incidentally advance the geographical knowledge of our own continent, 
cannot but be an additional gratification." And again, so comprehensive did Pres- 
ident Jeti^rson consider the "restrictive energies" of Congress under this clause, 
•/that in December, 1807, in order to promote the agricultural interests of the country, 



APPENDIX U. QI3 

Congres?, " at his special recommendation, was inunccd to lav mi i>m».»«r" -'< 

American trade Witli other countries, and to continno i- , 

and enforcements aiFecting internal conuiicrco until ih.' „ _ t 

18 months." (Bristed's U. S. p. 37.) ' '" " 

Mr. Madison, in 1800, declared tliat Congress liad tlic r- -*■■-■• 
promote, by authorized means, improvcnienla I'riomlly to n^r. 
and external commerce. 

Your own Benton, a statesman of much practical experience, said : I n-^'!- ^-A % 
doubt of the constitutionality of bringing tiio navignii'>n of the lake* • 

within the circle of internal improvements by tlic l-Vderal (lov. : • nutn xx^ 

object to be improved should be one of general" and national i:n]. ; 

Mr. Gallatin, Secretary of the Treiis\n-y in 18ns, wroto tlmi: "A- « 

resources of the Union there is one which, from its nature, seem'* innr- ■ j 

applicable to internal improvements. It is believed, tliat nothinK ■ • 

gratifying to the purchasers, and to the inhabitants of tin- W. r, 

or better calculated to remove popular objection*, tlian tli>' •»• 

ceeds of the sales to improvements, conferring general adv :i, 

and an immediate benefit on the purchasers and inliabitants t '•• 

added that the United States, considered merely as owners ot ;•• 

ly interested in the opening of those communications which musl i>vcv4.AA.-i.jr «a« 
bance the value of their property. 

In the convention which formed the Constitution, it wa' moved •.# 

shall be restrained from laying tonnaio duties for the exprcn p"- 
harbors and erecting lighthouses," and the motion was roj.-cted on • 
that the power was included under the power to re;:ul;it- 
Papers, p. 1585.) The action of the Government of the Un. ; 
power "to regulate commerce" has been so frequently cxtondcd to 
tional importance in aid of commerce, as to render any r ' 
unnecessary. That Congress could constitutionally e\ 
roads, with the consent' of the States, over tho lands ot sucli MaU-Js *»• "fi/ 

admitted. , , , /-vt • . *■ c. . 

Thus, by the Act of April 30, 1802, to enable the people of Ohio to form % >UI« 

Government, provision was made for "laying out and i' ' 

from the navigable waters emptying into tho Atlantic t.> 

and through the same, such roads to be laid out under tlio aut' 'S 

with the consent of the several States through which the ro.id s..,.., ; • 

by other acts passed in 1803, 1811, 1816, 1S17, 1818. 1819, and ls20. • f^ 

enlarged for the same object; the latter act niakmg provisi 

the road to the confines of Missouri, and avowing m its p 

the increase in the value of the pubbc lands. ^^ _._ , ^, ^ 

Pursuant to these provisions, Congress by the Act ot ISOO .. 
struction of a national road from Cumberland m Maryland to t ■ • 
act of 1825, directed its continuation through the Urates ot Oluo, J 
and to the seat of Government of the State ot .Alissonri. _ 

The States interested in providing ample conunerml uif. r ^ 

Mississippi and the Atlantic, not only consL-nt that he u ... . j 

Con-rcss, bitt they earnestly invoke the exorcise o that 

If it be true that by opening a communication by car 
Pviver, Lake Michigan, and thence to the_ Atlantic ^. 
commerce among the States and with f»'-^;'P" '^'l '••^;. ;.;, 
markets of the world that vast amount of wealth «hu 1 
Agriculture of the great Western States o. «>"r ^ „,m and ^. 
and will be vastly extended (as soon as tlu^ro Aro c^^^^^^^ 
who can doubt that the general welfare will l>^' I '■" » ' . 

In the very amusing and character i>.t.c speech of Mr. I. 



(Who may ju-^ly be said to bo tJ^« best intonnod 
country, and who has devoted •^.•'^f '";'^, ' / ^ ,i,Vi, 
nrovements of our State and nation) we tind tliatm ru 
IZZT^t York in the agricultural products of lb. 



sent from New York in the ag 



614 APPENDIX C. 

sum of one hundred millions of dollars, wliicli is only the one fifth part of what they 
are capable of producing. 

To open the avenues of commerce in the direction and by the means indicated 
of this vast accumulation of wealth, would, by drawing into intimate communion 
the commercial and social relations of tlie "West and the East, necessarily tend "to 
form a more perfect Union," and would greatly "promote the general welfare." 
This being so, the Congress has the un(]uestionable power to pass such laws as are 
necessary and proper (that is, as are expedient) to provide the channels of commerce 
required to that end; and that Congress has the power to'raise the necessary funds 
by taxation, or any other usual means to carry out this beneficent purpose. 

Your friend and servant, J. A. H. 



APPENDIX C. 

EXAMINATION OF THE POWER OF THE PRESIDENT TO REMOTE FROM OFFICE DURING 

THE RECESS OF THE SENATE. 

Is this power conferred by the Constitution ? 

Amicier. — It is not, as will clearly appear by the following examination of that 
instrument. 

If this power is not so conferred, ought it to be continued? 

Answer. — Experience conclusively proves that it ought not to be continued. 

To this point we invite the earnest attention of the people of the United States, 
Eot as a party issue, but as one which involves the purity of our Government and 
the highest interests of our country. 

The experience of the past thirty years proves that the exercise of the power of 
removal by the President, thus making the offices of government " the spoils of "Kic- 
tory^^'' has degraded the country by corrupting the parties and the people. 

It is now established as almost indispensable to success in every party struggle 
in the general, State, or municipal governments through the laud, that the offices of 
honor and of profit should be thrown into the arena as the i^rizes of victory, and 
that they are to be bestowed as the reward of the most skilful and most unscrup- 
ulous partisan of the one party or the other. 

We believe this to be the condition of all parties, and that one of the greatest 
obstacles to a salutary change will arise from the fear that any party which should 
avow its determination to return to the course of the early period of our Govern- 
ment, when, as Mr. Jeff'erson said, " few died and none resigned," such party losing 
the services of the base hirelings, would risk its predominance. 

These obvious truths, no intelligent and honest observer will deny. 

"What are the consequences of this course of our public aft'airs? Offices and their 
rewards are vastly increased that the number of recruits and retainers may be ade- 
quately rewarded. 

The choice of persons to fill the offices is not guided by their fitness for the 
places, by their integrity or intelligence. 

The ofiicers are in all things governed " by a blind devotion to a party or the head 
of a party ; " they are required to contribute out of their salaries or emoluments to 
the support of their party, consequently they require and receive increased salaries, 
or they purloin public money to meet these contributions, and thus in either way 
the Public Treasury is made to bear the burden of party services. 

Mr. Calhoun, in 1835, said in a report to the Senate : 

" Wiiea offices, instead of being considered .ts public trusts to be conferrod on the de- 
serving, were regarded as the spoils of victory to be bestowed as rewards for partisan services 
without respect to merit; when it came to be understood that all who hold office, hold by 
tenure of partisan and party services, it is easy to sec that the certain, direct, and inevitable 



.^«* ir t^. , .^« 



APPENDIXC C. 

tendency of such a state of things is to convert the entire boily of \\v. 

and supple instruments of power, and to raise up a host of hunifrr KTT«dT 

partisans for every service, liowevcr base ami corrupt. 

" Were a premium offered for the best means of cxtcn.linR the power of ^ ■ 
destroy tlie love of country, and to substitute a spirit of su».<ervi.- • 

encourage vice, and discourage virtue ; and in a word to j,rrj„,r. f,., 
and the establishment of despotism, no scheme more perfect could l»e liotwj. 

This is the language of trutli, uttered by a wise nnd cxpericnocJ ^utMIn«n 

'Ihesame course of remark wonkl be applicable to •' • „ 

Executive power of our government in regard to oont; , 

which are made and given to secure or to reward partisan services, nnd -« 

of tlie basest and most ccrrupting cliaracter, and by one inenna or t} ■ 
creasing the public expenditures vastly beyond tlie nece«>itie-* of f ho ( , 

"We now proceed to prove that tlie pow>r of removal from i.»1' 
upon the President «^o?i<', by tlie Constitution ; expressly. ..r 1 
cation. 

There is certainly no such express power. 

This question was first discussed in Congress in 1789 (sec Hontnn'd A' t, 

vol. 1, page 85, and also Gale's Annals), on tlie rescdution moved by Mr. y >a 

the House of Representatives to establish the Executive DcpartmeiiLs: 

" It is the opinion of the Committee, that tliere shall be cstabli.ohcd an Ft--""«.- r>- «fV 
ment, to be denominated tlie Department of Foreign Affairs; at the head «>f '11 

be an officer, to be called the Secretary of the Department of For. ' ' ■' 
appointed by the President, by aad with the advice and consent of • 
movable by the President." 

It was moved to strike out the Avords " by and with the mlvic* and • 4 

the Senate," on the ground that " tliey were unnecessary, and looked m it Uic) »cr» 
conferring power." 

After debate, they were struck out. 

The last clause, "to be removable by the President," was objeclwl to .-^- • 
gave the power of removal to the Pre-ident alone. 

After a very long and interesting discussion, wherein it w."- ■ 
Sherman, Bland, and others, " that the power of removal wa~ 
of appointment, and could only be exercised in concurrcneo with t: - 

by Madison, Vining, Clymer, and others, ''that it was an Exeo«ti\v i- , — • 

was given to the President alone, by Article 2, section 1, chiiiM« 1. 

In Committee of the Whole the motion to strike out \vjus r. 
majority. The question afterward came upon the bill, it wa* ■- 
earnestness, and it was admitted that tliere was no cxpre-ss i.uwt.r._ ^ ^^ 

Mr. Benson, in order to obtain a majority, moved tojimeii.! "' 
ever the said principal officer shall be reuiovcd by the IV ^ ^ 

case of vacancy," "the chief clerk should," &c. (Cxordor. h K-p-i, |-^v -o. *... ..v>, 
and to strike out the words, " to be removable by the I roMdeil. ».•..•« 

This amendment being accepted by Mr. Madison, the bill w«* imi»*hI by • TWy 

""\'! Si"' vl'ry clear that the decision of the House, mndo In tbo^ wur>k - ^ 

affirmance of the power. ,,,.,., • ,. ,„...„T .„;•!,! ..r c 
They do not necessarily exclude the idea thai >u. .. r«m 

with the concurrence of the Senate, or that the ren...v„l ... 

an act of Congress conferring the power on tho 1 i 

and directly affirm the constitutional j-ower to rem.-.. . . ^^^ , 

When the bill came up in the Senate, it wa.s pits^cMl u. camn.iti« bj »*« 

vote of the Vice-President, and ^"^'"b'.l'.v «'>h' •""I-n'r- , 

Mr. AVebster. in a speech in the -Nenate, in l>.l... ref.mn^ !- 

says- "After considering the question ugnin ami mram. 

ain willing to say that, in my deliberate J";'';'"'^''''; '^^I '/',„„ h^ u». . 

I cannot but think that those who denied the po^er In !.»» i«a «. 



61G 



APPENDIX C. 



argument — it appears to me, after thorough, and repeated, and conscientious exam- 
ination, that an erroneous interpretation was given to tiie Constitution, in this re- 
spect, by the decision of the first Congress," Oliancellor Kent concurred in this 
opinion. 

If the Constitution confers this power upon the President alone, either directly 
or by necessary implication ; it is a power beyond the control of Congress, it cannot 
be directed, limited, or abrogated, and yet we find that in May, 1820 (Gordon's 
Digest, page 24, article 195), an act was i^assec] declaring that the term of office of 
collectnrs, district attorneys, and others should be limited to four years. 

_ The coteraporaneons history of tiie Constitution is against the assumption, that 
this power was conferred on the President alone. 
No. 77, of the Federalist^ written by Hamilton : 

"It has been mentioned as one of the advantages to be expected from the cooperation of 
the Senate, in the business of appointments, that it would contribute to the stability of the 
administration." 

" The consent of that body would be necessary to displace as well as to appoint. A change 
of the chief magistrate, therefore, would not occasion so violent or so general a revolution as 
might be expected if he were the sole disposer of offices." 

Mr. Webster, in the speech before referred to, says : 

" The principle of Republican Governments, we are taught, is public virtue, and whatever 
tends to corrupt this principle, to debase it, or to weaken its force, tends in the same de- 
gree to the final overthrow of such governments. 

'' Whenever personal, individual, or selfish motives influence the conduct of individuals, 
on public questions, they affect the safety of the whole system. 

" And all will admit that, if these motives become general and overwhelming, so that all 
public principle is lost sight of, and every election becomes a mere scramble for office, the 
system must fall. 

"The unlimited power to grant office, and to take it away, gives a command over the 
hopes and fears of a vast multitude of men. In the main it will be found that a power over 
man's support is a power over his wiU. When favors, once granted, may be withdrawn at 
pleasure, tliere is ordinarily little security for personal independence of character. 

"The power of giving office thus affects the fears of all who are mi, and the hopes of all 
who are out ; those who are out endeavor to distinguish themselves by active political friend- 
ship, by warm personal devotion, by the clamorous support of men in whofe hands is the 
power of reward, while those who are in take care not to be surpassed in such (lualities or 
conduct as will secure favor. 

" The consequence of this is, that a competition ensues, not of patriotic labors, but of 
complaisances, of indiscriminate support of executive measures, of pliant subserviency, and 
gross adulation. 

"The patronage of office, the power of bestowing place and emoluments, creates parties 
not upon any principle or any measure, but upon the single ground of personal interest, and 
thus they form round a leader and go for the spoils of victory ; if the party chieftain becomes 
the national chieftain, he is apt to consider all who oppose him as enemies to be punished, 
and all who have supported him as friends to be rewarded. 

" Blind devotion to a party, and to the head of a party, thus takes the place of the senti- 
ment of genuine patriotism, and a high and exalted state of public duty." 

In order to a c^ear understanding of this subject, we proceed to present the vari- 
ous clauses of the Constitution touching it. 

By article 2, sec. 2, clause 2, it is provided, "that the President shall nominate, 
and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint, ambassadors, 
other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other offi- 
cers of the United States, wliose appointments are not herein otlierwise provided 
for, and which shall be established by Congress, but the Congress mny by law vest 
the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, 
iu the courts of law, or in the heads of departnients." 

The following analysis of this clause will show what power the President has 
under it. 

1st. It gives the President power to nominate (this is exclusive). 



2d. With the concurrence of the Senate, " to nnpoint " 
od. Av hat officers ? '• Ambassadors, other public Mini«u-, 
of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United Sui«s whoM 



APPENDIX C. 617 

public Ministers nn<] ConwiK 
„i '' " ■ • " 

ments are not tiereiii otherwise pi-ovided tor." 

4th. What offices are otherwise provided for bv tlie Conslitulionf 
1st. Members of tlie House of Eeprescntatives. 
2d. Senatoi-s. 

3d. Electors of President and Vice-President. 
4th. The President and Vice-President of the United Stale*. 
5th. Tlie Speaker and other officers of the House of P»eprcaent«tiTw. 
Gth. A President \n-o tempore, and other officers of the Si-nnto. 

5th. The President has power, with tiie concurrence of tho Scnnfo !-> tp-v^-nt 
"oil other offices" whicli shall be established bv law. lie cannot . ' « 

bj makinc: an appointment or otherwise, because" "nil other otliccs i.... : .. -^ »^ 
lished by law." 

6th. _ " Congress may by law vest the appointment of such -j 

they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts o/hir, vr . ^• 

2)artmen fs. 

It will be admitted that, under tiiis branch of this clausi\ tho P- '•' • • -' r# 
can appoint only such inferior officers as the Congress may aiithoriz- 
point. 

Any other appointments made by him alone, or whicli arc given to tlio coarU <rf 
law or the heads of departments, would be a violation of tho Ci^nstituliun Mid IIm 
laws. 

It thus appears that in every case where the Constitution pivos tho I'mhWIcoI 
power to appoint, it must be with tlie concnrre^icc of the Senate. ' -.t 

give him power to appoint "inferior officers. "j We except t--^!' . _,,.-;• 
ments, which will be hereafter mentioned. 

If the-power of removal is incident to, or a consequence of. ■' ' '".' 

ment, it is very certain tliat as the incident cannot be m^ « 

principal, the power of removal must be as limited ami <iu.i ■ r 

whence it is derived ; and consequently, as the power of tho ;'.. .■. 
point is limited to "inferior ofhcers," and Is only conferred by act o: ' • 

power of removal does not extend to others tlian "inferior <••''' 'I 

always depend upon the action of Congress, so also the power to i ■ e 

cases than " inferior officers " (authorized by act of Congress) must bo wiih liio coo- 
currence of the Senate. 

Mr. Webster, in the speech referred to, says: " Nothing is »aid in tho (.V; 
tion about the power of removal (except in case of impcachiuent). bccauw it uo^l 
a separate and distinct power. 

" It is a part of the power of appointment, naturally going with It, Ami • 
sarily resulting from it. 

" Where no other tenure is prescribed, the officers lioKl their jilncfij «l ^ 

will is necessarily the will of the appointing power, because tho oxcrcUo ■ 
ment at once displaces such officers. • • r 

" The power of placing one man in office neces.«uirily implic.H the i 
ing another out, and this is the practice of the (lovcrnnient, and • 

" W hen the President desires to remove a person from ofllco, ho •coU. • tm^*^ 

to the Senate nominating some other person. _ . n , i r « 

"The message usually runs in this form, ' I nominate .\. M. lo Im» » 

Customs, &c., in the place of C. I)., removed.' ..,,,, f 

"If the Senate advise and consent to this nomination. ( . i . 

office, and A. B. is in " his place." , _ . . ,j 

f 



This is certainly tho case wlicn tlio Senate i.^ 



m 



nece-^sarily results irom an apiiointment so made ; th 

the President and Senate, under article 2, .'^ei-tioiil., ; ^ ^^ 

But wiiencc comes the nower to nppoint whin » 
the consequent power thereby to remove .' 



CIS APPENDIX C. 

It is certaiuly without the authority of the Constitution, or the law. 

The removal to which we refer, effected hy appointment during the recess, by 
giving a commission to A. B., appointing him Collector, etc., in place of C. D., who, 
at the time such commission was issued, was in that place and performing its duties, 
does not come within the clause authorizing the President to appoint after a nomi- 
nation, with the concurrence of the Senate. Nor can it come within that clause 
which authorizes the President to make a temporary appointment " to Jill a vacan- 
cy" because, in a case of removal caused by an appointment, there is no vacancy to 
be filled. 

It will be said that such appointments and consequent removals during the re- 
cess are made by authority of the 3d clause of article 2, sec. 2, which is in these 
words : 

" The President shall have the power to Jill up all vacancies that may happen 
during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the 
end of their next session." 

Most certainly this cannot be properly said, because the clause only authorizes 
the President to grant commissions to fill up vacancies, whereas, in the supposed 
case and in practice, he grants a commission to make a vacancy. 

Again — This clause only authorizes the President to fill up vacancies that " may 
liapjjen " during the recess. 

What is the meaning of the words " may happien'''' f They mean such vacancies 
as result from some " accidental occurrence," " without previous expectation," and 
certainly not by direct removal, or by an appointment which creates a removal. 
Such an act is jjremeditated, and wants every quality of an "accidental occurrence." 

In the last case there is no vacancy, and in no sense can a vacancy by removal 
be said to have happened — that is, to be a casualty. Vacancies by casualty might 
occur during the recess, and it was therefore necessary to provide for such vacancies 
by temporary appointments. 

It may be remarked that, when this clause was formed, the Convention had the 
subject of vacancies under consideration, and if they had supposed it possible that 
there c >uld be a vacancy by removal, during the reces-!, they would have made pro- 
vision for it, or have applied this clause to it, by saying, " or by removal " after the 
words " may happen." 

From these considerations it may be confidently asserted, that there can be no 
appointment to a vacancy occasioned by removal during the recess. 

And that all appointments made to fill vacancies occasioned by removals, if such 
there be, are unconstitutional and void. 

There is no power in Congress, in the Senate, or in the President, to sanction 
such appointments. 

As to the true meaning of the words " may happen^'' we refer with the utmost 
confidence to No. 77 of the Federalist. 

Article 1, section 3, clause 2, declares : " If vacancies happen by resignation or 
otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof 
may make temporary appointments until," &c. The author says : " Here is an ex- 
press power, given in clear and unambiffuous terms, to the State Executives to fill 
' casnal vacancies'' in the Senate by temporary appointments." 

We have also the authority of the same author — Alexander Hamilton — in a letter 
written by him to James McHenry, Secretary of War, dated May 3d, 1799 (ten 
years after the debate in Congress on ihe subject of removals), in which he says : 
" In my opinion, vacancy is a relative term, and presupposes that the office has been 
once filled. If so, the power to fill a vacancy is not the power to make an original 
appointment. 

" Tlie terms, which may have happened, serve to confirm this construction. They 
imply casualty, and denote such as, having been once filled, have become vacant by 
accidental circumstances. * * * ♦ 

" It it clear that, independently of the authority of a special law. the President 
cannot fill a vacancy that happens during the session of the Senate." (Hamilton's 
Works, vol. 5, page 258.) 

We have also Mr. Calhoun's opinion on tliis construction of the Constitution, in 



APrr.NDix c. 



010 



his report to the Senate in 1835, on the corru,,iirg inflnoncc of ihc r- ^ ' ^ ••- . 

of removal. Hes.ys: ''So \on', n. omcosl,Jc.nwZrli\^'l^ " 

conferred on the honest, the faithful and ( apahle, for the ' 

tiie benefit and gam of the incumbent or his party • and ■ 

tice of tlie government to continue in olKce tlioso wL.. ■ 

duties, this ])atronage, in point of fact, was limited to the v . 

to accidental vacancies, or to newhj created o[fica, and cnUI of ,. 

a imited influence either over tlie body of 'the community' or ollu-. :....;.;♦ •. 

It is thus made quite clear that tliis clause docs not 
grant a commission to fill a vacancy caused by removal Ik. ., 
by a "casualty," and that he has not the power to gnmt a 
appomtment creates a vacancy, because that is not oscrcisiui: Uiu iH>*tr lu fiU • 
vacancy which has already hnppomd. 

If the President has the power to create a vacancy by removal chiri 
he cnn have no power to till up such vacancv, under this or any other . m .^. . t ii*« 
Constitution. 

It maybe stated with assured confidence, according: to : ■ 1 

construction, that as the Constitution has {.-iven the ix.wer t. 
fill vacancies during the recess, iu ^' particular and expnst €■ ■.. 

eludes the power to grant commissions in any other c.isos, or ■ :■ 
of any other character than those alone which are dcMrihed ; an<l 
given must be strictly followed. 

Therefore commissions can only be granted to^fill tacanrun, and «"'-*• <■ 
are embraced by the words " ma7j happen during the rtceuy 

"We consequently denounce the practice of appointin^' ' "" 
vacancy to be filled, or where a vacaucy is made by reui' . I 

and beside this clause, and therefore unconstitutionid. 

And we go further, and insist that Conjiress cannot anlhor''- ■ •"'--"• -• '■■ *^ 

granted, or appointments to be made during the recess, bec:. • 

and disposes of the whole subject. 

Admit, as has been contended, that the power of removal i." .in KT'-r-Mtf r'"*'^. 
and is therefore vested in the President alone, still, a>i the C- I 

the character of the vacancy which may be filled by the 1'- 

porary appointment, he has no right to fill a vacancy o • 

removal, or to issue a commission appointing to an oftico not tMUhl iiuiii>ii Ih« re- 
cess. 

The following conclusions are advanced as inevitable and invinciM*: 

The President, if he possesses the power of removal, c^inuot cxort tbiit fowtrhf 
making an appointment during the recess. 

If the power of removal results from the power to ajipoint, there can U oo re- 
moval by the President alone during the session of tlie Senate. 

If the President alone has the jiower to rt'/Horc other than "iuf- 
the vacancy occasioned thereby must continue iititil t!.' 
because he has no power to appoint without their coiiru; 
case, to wit • to fill a vacancy which may happen— that i.-s wtiK-li i» the c*.:. 
of an " accidental occurrence." 

These are all logical and safe deductions from the vnnoufi provimon* o 
stitution — whether the power of removal by the I'r. 
by article 2, section 1, clause 1, or whether it rcMilts i; 

AVe call upon those who entertain the oi.inion that *■«*"•"[''', ♦* 
jwwer, conferred ly the above clause, to show whcnco ih derive ■ 
President to make an appointment, to grant a (•ommi^si.m. to i 

The Constitution, article 2, section 3, declares. " that tlio I r. 
nnting, with the consent of the Senate," .sliall "appoint 
oflicers of the United States." . t_:..«:. i!* 

This is the source of all power to appoint, :ii ' 
evidence of appointment, it embraces the whoK> ^ 

offlcersr which ?««2/ by law be vested in the l'rc«d«nl .lone, ...J »-i-,- 
vacancies that may hai>i)en durmg the recess. 



020 APPENDIX C. 

To appoint " inferior officers''^ must be by operation of law ; to fill vacancies and 
issue temporary commissions, are constitutional provisions : neither reaches or pro- 
vides for the case of removal by appointment as an implied Executive power. 

Wo challenge the advocates of this opinion to produce constitutional or legal 
authority fur the practice, which is of common occurrence during the recess, of 
issuing commissions, and thus appointing one man to, and removing another from 
ofHce. 

The above constitutional and legal provisions do not touch or authorize such ap- 
pointments. There are no others. 

During the discussion in 1789, in the House of Representatives, as we have seen, 
it was insisted thnt the power of removal, being an Executive power, was com- 
mitted to the President alone, under article 2, section 1, clause 1, in these words, 
"The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of 
America.-' 

This latitude of construction was urged by Mr. Madison. 

The argument was : "Removal is an Executive power ; all Executive powers, 
not denied or placed elsewhere, are vested in the President." 

Let us, without being carried away by the influence of great names (Mr. M.idi- 
son in favor of, with Webster and llamilton against, this interpretation of that 
clause), proceed to test this point by the rules of sound construction (by the spirit 
which guided those who formed that Constitution, and by the feelings and opinions 
of the people to whose adoption it was submitted), in regard to Executive power 
and prerogative. 

In the first place, if this clause had been intended to be a grant of power, the 
Coavemion, governed by that wise forecast which distinguished them, would have 
declared, " All Executive power, not otherwise conferred or denied by this Constitu- 
tion, shall be vested in a President of the United States." 

When the illustrious men who assembled to perform that great work, " a Con- 
stitution of government for the people of the United States," their first effort in 
"arranging a system of oi'ganizatiou " was, to decide how many and what depart- 
ments there should be. 

They decided that there should be three great depart)nents : The Legislative, the 
Executive, the Judicial. And as next in order, their constituent parts, the mode of 
their choice, and their respective powers, and in doing this they had to deal with 
every variety of suggestion and opinion. 

The system of organization having been thus completed, they proceeded to de- 
clare : 

Art. 1. " All Legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of 
the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." 

Art. 2. " The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the United 
States of America" (not "all Executive power herein granted^'"' as in the case of the 
Legislative.) 

Art. 3. " The Judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme 
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain 
and establish." 

This done, they proceeded in each case, and under each article, to declare speci- 
fically and in detail what powers were conferred on each department, and what 
were denied. 

This allotment and detail of powers proves that the first article in each case was 
intended as a mere designation of a department, and not a grant of power to eitlier 
of those great departments. 

It is very certain the assumption, that these articles were to be considered as 
granting, or as intending to grant, powers, would have made the government, in- 
stead of it being, as it is, one of precise and delegated powers, one of an unlimited 
character, and particularly would this be the ca^^e as to the Executive, in regard to 
which the people entertained a morbid sensibility, and indulged an unreasonable 
jealousy. 

On examining the detail of powers given and denied to the respective great de- 
partments, many of those which are universally recognized as executive powers are 
expressly conferred on the Legislature. 



APPENDIX r. c,2\ 

The power " to declare war, to coin money nnd rcpulnt- !',- ^ -* - .» f -i n^ 

the power to make treaties, to appoint to otlico, cK-arly . 
to the President, together with the Senate ; on the other ' 
unqualilied power to receive amlassadors and other pul., 

all officers ; with one exception, to grant rejiriovcs, and j.an! «l 

the United States, to command the army and navy of the I,,,;,-, « 

militia of the several States when called into the sorvico of llic Ti. -.o 

require the opinions in writing of the lieads of depurti' .• 

are faithfully executed ; on extraordinary occasions to c^- r 

of them, and in case of disagreement to adjourn tlio Lcgisiaturv. Ho iiM 
qualified veto. 

In this enumeration of executive powers, some so very unimportant, «« in sol 
find that " dangerous power " of removal, as Mr. Madisdti' calU it. 

Can it be supposed that this was a careless omissinn? 

The attention of the Convention was directed to one ca«c of r »- 

peachment, it was directed to vacancies during the reces-<, nnd y * • 
of removal by the President alone, we are told, was left toinfere- 
and yet vacancies, occasioned by its exercise during the recess, nr* nut lu i- 
until the session of the Senate. 

It is surely much more reasonable to believe the Convention in* •'»• 

only removal by the President could be made by appointment, by anii w.m ' 

vice and consent of the Senate. 

"We recur on this subject with great confidence to tlio opinions of tho groAt "^ 
fender of the Constitution," in the speech referred to. 

" The most plausible reason brought forward on that occasionfthc di- ■ " '■'' '*<* «=*t 

be fairly stated thus: The executive power is vested in tlie rrcsiileiil— i' J* 

of the Constitution. 

" The association of the Senate with the President in cxorci.-in<: • p«rt»r«Ur '-^ 

longing to executive power is an exception to this frcncral rulf, 
are to be taken strictly. Therefore, though the Senate pari.ik^ 

express provision, yet, as nothing is said ot its participation in tho reojoTirg po». ■»*• 

ticipation is to be excluded. 

" The error of this argument lies in this : it supposes the power of rcrooral to 
by the President, under the general grant of executive power. 

" Now, it is certain that the power of appointment is not hold wndpr the ?«>'nl fM«._ 
because it'is particularly provided for, and is conferred in cxprcM tcrnis onlhc I" 

the Senate. , ,„„. , , ^ . i j 

"So that the spirit of the very rule on which the argument of li89, •» I «»*»• •*•»*» ■»• 

relies, appears to me to produce a directly opposite result. 

"The true apphcation of that rule of construction, thus relied upon, • 

argument in this form : The appointing power is vested m the Prowdcnt •«•• 

the general rule of the Constitution. 

" The removing power is part of the appointing power, it • 
rest, but bv supposing that an exception was intended ; hut all ■ .4 ;^ l» u. 

be taken strictlv, even when expressed ; and for a much strouL.'. 
plied when not expressed, unless inevitable necessity ol con> ^ 

" I must still express mv conviction that the di-t-ision «• ' 
rated the power of removal" from the power of appomlmcn^ «»■- - - 

construction of the Constitution. ... ... -.•,./ 

" I have the clearest conviction that they (tlie (. onvcn 
displacing an officer than by impeachmeut, or by the r- ,: 

son to the same place. ......... rpv.r^- i'..- .!.' '** 

" I believe it to be within the just power of_Congrc.-« t . ro^. r. ^ 

I mean to hold myself at liberty to act lu'reultor. «'I'«» ;«; 



safetv of the Government an.l ot the Constit^utmn , .a 

""Let it alwavs be remembered that the rres..l..nl . ^ " ^^'"j 
claimed and held under the general clause, vesting m l.im tbo ci 



I" 

claimed and held under tlie general - 

phed or inferred from that elausc." 



It is well known that there are oth.;r p-- .-. 
removal, which are not conterred or denied t»y tia 



■barK ,--. 



622 APPENDIX C. 

The power to grant charters of incorporation to cities and towns, and to associa- 
tions of individuals, for the 2iurposes of trade and commerce, and also the power to 
establish ''fairs and markets" (see Blackstone's Commentaries, ^'■Prerogative''''), 
which l>y the same rule of interpretation must be " vested " in the President, as 
well as that of removal. Why not? 

The argument is ; the power of removal is an executive power ; as all executive 
powers not given or denied are vested in the President, by article 2d, this power of 
removal, the power to grant charters, the power to establish "fairs and markets," 
and all other executive powers, are also vested in him alone. 

It is not to be believed that the advocates of this latitudinarian construction will 
be willing to push their opinions, at this time of day, to their legitimate and logical 
results. 

In N'o. 69 of the Federalist there will be found an enumeration of the powers of 
the President, and a comparison of these with those of the Governor of New York 
and of the King of Great Britain. 

The power of removal by the President alone is not found in this enumeration, 
but the power to "erect corporations, with all the rights incident to corporate 
bodies," and to " establish fairs and markets," are referred to as clearly defined ex- 
ecutive powers, not given to the President. 

The inference is a strong one, that all executive powers, if any, not denied or 
elsewhere conferred, are not vested in tlie President, by the clause now under ex- 
amination. 

No part of the Constitution was so unscrupulously assailed during the discussion 
before the people, or in their Conventions, as was the executive power. 

And as far as our researches have extended we not find that this dangerous pow- 
er, on this unlimited and dangerous construction of the Constitution, was ever hinted 
at, as being vested in the President, or as having been supposed to be. 

Influenced by these considerations, we are compelled to believe that, in the ar- 
rangement of the system of organization by the builders of " The Great Temple of 
Human Liberty," the clause referred to was intended to be a mere designation of the 
executive office, and was in no respect to be deemed a grant of power. 

If this be so, there remains no ground whatever on which to rest this claim of 
power, a power which, in its practical operation, as exercised since 1829, has tended 
more to degrade the parties and politicians of our country than all other powers 
or jiractices. 

It has essentially thrown all the offices of the government into the arena of 
party, to be scrambled for, and clutched as "the spoils of victory," by the most uu- 
scrupuhius demagogues and knaves. 

The power of removal was not known to have been used until 1829, to reward 
or punish party services or otfences. The wh^de nimiber of removals during forty 
years, from 1789, did not exceed seventy-three, more than half of whicli were 'made 
by Mr, -Jetierson, as we learn from " Parton's Life of Jackson." He further says, re- 
ferring to the removals in 1829: "The estimate of 2,000 includes all who lost their 
places in consequence of General Jackson's accession to power, and thongh the ex- 
act number cannot now be ascertaineri, I fear it will not be less than two thousand." 
Admitting that the decision of 1789 and that the law^ of 1820 distinctly recognize 
the power of the President .alone to remove, and that the Constitution, by article 2, 
vests this power in him, we aver that those laws and this article cannot confer upon 
the President alone the power to make an appointment or to grant a commission, 
because both of these powers are expressly provided for by article 2, section 2, 
clauses 2 and 3. 

If tlie advocates of this executive power shall insist that the power of removal 
draws after it the power to appoint, they must admit that the power given to the 
Senate, to remove by a sentence, upon the trial and conviction upon impeachment, 
gives that boily the power, in such cases, to appoint. 

The potency of removal, in the last case, must be equal to that of the former. 
Botii are absurd. 

If removal is an undefined power, it might be reached under clause 16 of section 
8, article 1, which gives the Congress power "to make all laws which shall be 



APPENDIX (\ 

necessary and proper for carryinor into execution tho f .reRoin-. tv>^<«-, - fVl t 
enumerated in that section), " and all otl.or ]...wcr. vc^cd 1 
the Government of the United States, or anv dopartnient ..r -• 

Removal is a power vested by tho Constitution in the (i.n ■ 

If it IS not included in the power of appointment (\\. ' 
vested in the President by article 2, wiiich a.ssutn|iti..n u. 
sustained, let an act be passed, declaritifj; that tho IVcsident shall hnv ,„. 
pend any officer during the recess, for cause, and to appoint nn-' - 
imtil the end of the next session of the Senate; and. whenever f 
in session, he shall nominate the person so tenii>orarilv npp.' «. 

some other, and with their advice and oonsoiit sliail appoint I S 

such nomination he shnll state the cause for such snspon-'ion ; and fu- 
whenever the President. shall nominate to the Soiinto u person to fill a 
occupied by another, he shall give his roas'ins for tho reni.)val of «nrh in. 

This course, while it would afford to the President all th»> j.ow 

force the laws, would secure officers against the cxitc's.' «.i' a >. „ . . ,_ ^ 

control. 

Suspension and removal, being exceptional and for c.i ' ' ' ' I 

disgraceful, whereas the existing practice of removal for •■ ' 

idea of disgrace. 

The stability of administration would be secured, and tho pnblic wool.] ^ 

better served. 

But, above all, the hope of spoils being blasted, tho sordid ' ! 

demagogues would be compelled to seek their bread by 3o:uo ■ ■ 



RESULTS. 

First. The Constitution has not vested the power of romoval in the lYr^j^kot 
alone, expressly or by necessary implication. 

Second. The second article is not a grant of all cxocative pow.-r. n.if .!.>',;.<.! ,,- 
given elsewliere. 

Third. The power of removal is embraced by and results from tac power 
pointment. 

Fourth. If the power of removal is vested in the Prcmdent, ! ■ ♦ 

appoint during the recess, in order to till a vacancy occadioneil by t..- . . 
power. 

Fi/Ch. The President has no power to make an appor ' 
sion, during the recess, except " ^o ^7^ a tacan'-y,'' oc . . w 

occurrence." 

Sixth. Removal by the President, if ho lias (ho !)i)w.r. .l-e. uoi cro»l«« rtevtfj 

-which he can till by granting a commission durinir the ri -■*. 

Seventh. If the power of removal is not vested hy t!i.' ' 
dent alone, the Congress has power to repeal all laws no« ^ .^ ^ 

admit such a power, and to declare that it is a power r. - Jin lHo |w»»» n 

appointment, to be exercised with the concurreuco ot the .-cujie. 

J. A. li. 



624 APPENDIX D. 

APPENDIX D. 



PEOPERTY m MAN. 

Letter from Hon. James A. Hamilton on the Doctrine of the Constitu- 
tion Concerning Slavery. 



" Every man has a property in his own person ; this nobody has a right to but himself." — 
Locke. 

*' Natural liberty is the gift of the beneficent Creator of the whole human race." — 
Hamilion. 

"Slavery is a system of outrage and robbery." — Socrates. 

"Slavery is a system of the most complete injustice." — Plato. 

" No man by natui-e is the property of another." — Dr. Johnson. 

" Slavery in all its forms, in all its degrees, is a violation of Divine law, and a degrada- 
tion of human nature." — Brinsot. 

"Not only does the Christian religion, but nature herself cry out against the state of 
Siavery." — Pope Leo X. 

"Tiie wise and good men throughout all time, and the Christian Church throughout all 
the world, with an unimportant exception during a brief period in our own country, have de- 
nounced 'Slavery' as 'an atrocious debasement of human nature.' " — Franklin. 



Chief Justice Taney has authoritatively declared " the right of proferty in a 
slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution'''' — and Southern men 
generally, with their allies in the Forth, insist that the Constitution of the United 
States, j9?'(?prio «i^or<', carries Slavery wherever it reaches; and that, as property, 
they have a right to take their slaves into the Territories of the United States — there 
to he protected by a slave code, to be enacted by Congress. TTe believe we thus 
state the assumptions of the slave-holders and their party as fully and distinctly as 
they are asserted; and we now intend to prove to the satisfaction of every en- 
lightened and disinterested reader that the declaration of the Chief Justice, and 
these assumptions founded thereon, are icholly groundless. 

The Chief Justice has not quoted those parts of the Constitution on which his 
judgment is founded. We, however, intend to present every word of that "great 
charter of human liberty " which is or can be claimed to refer to this subject, and 
then, by the cotemporaneous history of the formation of that Constitution, the de- 
clarations of its most distinguished members, and the action of the Convention itself, 
to prove beyond all question that it was the purpose of all to exclude Slavery, and 
all idea that there could he property in man from that instrument. And next, by a 
candid analysis of all its provisions touching tliis subject, to prove that such purpose 
of the Convention was carried out faithfully aud skilfully. 

THE PROVISIONS OF TIIE CONSTITUTION. 

Art. 4, Section 2, Clause 3. — No person held to service or labor in one State, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, 
be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to 
whom such service or labor shall be due. 

Art. 1, Sec. 9, Clause 1. — The migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
States now existing think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 
the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding $10 
for each person. 

Art. 1, Sec. 2, Clause 3. — Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective 
numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including 



APPENDIX. ((25 

lu'lerplrnr"" '^^ ' *"™ ^' •^^-^' -^ "^'"'>'"S ^"«'-- not u.., ._ . 

Art 4, Sec. 4.-The United States slmll protect each of ihc ^ui^ ... 
of the Legis ature or of the Executive (when the Le^U uiure cnnir. 
domestic violence, ^ i^cgisumrt cannoi Ix 

First the cotemporaneous hisfory : In Convention («co Ma,}.. > -- -,., 

debates) Mad.son said he "thought it wronR to admit in the C ' ! 

that there could be property in man. We intend this C.n-tituM,., ■ 

charter of human hberty t,. tl,e unborn millions wl... n.av enjnv ,t. 

who shall never see that such an institution was ever known in" thei' 

Convention concurring in these opinions without debate, unaniv. -■ 

the words ' blave" and "Slavery-' should be stricken out : mv\ 

person and •' other persons " sliould he substituted wherever tl ■ ■ • 



On motion of Randolph, of Virginia, the word '-servitude 
"""'"" "was una7iimously inserted ; the former beinp thouirht to c^ 



o. 



dition of slaves, and the latter the obligations of free personj..— f J/a^/.... . t iwvi», 
p. 1,569.] 

Gouverneur Morris, a delegate from Pennsvlvanin, wlio wa.^ ns m ' -o 

Slavery as were Washington, Madison, liandoiph, George Ma-w)n. or \ 
in a letter to a friend, "The hand which writes tliis letter wrote the « 
To avoid prolixity, we do not give all the declarations of mem' 
"that man could not have property in man." Mr. Gerry yaid. " 
have no poAver over the institution ^rithin the ^UtUn, wc'oupht t. -4 

no sanction to it. When the amendment, now a part of the Coi ^X 

that "no person shall be deprived of life, liherty, or property w / •^ 

of law," was debated in tlie Virginia Convention.'the Cunventinn : 
be fatal to all future right to property iu mnn ; and tiiereforc jr 
read "-no free man shall be deprived of life, liherty, and properly wi* 

In the House of Kepresentatives in 1V89, on the llesohition I'r ■ 
Mr. Parker moved to insert a clause imposing a duty on the im; "^ 

Roger Sherman, a member of the Convention from Connect irnt, 
cile himself to the insertion of human beings as an article of duty , 
" The Constitution does not consider these persons an a xpecin of pr ' . ■• 

son said : " It is hoped that by expressing a national di>approbati •• • 

may destroy it; and save ourselves from ropronclics ami our p<>- ♦- 

hecility ever attendant on a country filled vith shires^ * * "F.'. j 

(Georgia and South Carolina) receive to tlic number of their shiv. 
and render them less capable of self-defence. In case of ho>; 
nations, they will be the means of inviting attack in-toad of r 
Mr. .Jackson, of Georgia, in the course of the sanie debate, refer: xt 

"white slaves were imported from all tlie jails in Kurope; wr Y 

the most fl.'igrant crimes were brought in and soM without any du;. 

opposed the duty upon slaves. 

These facts prove incontestably that it was the deli' 
vidual members alone, but of the Convention, to exclud.' ■ 

only the hated word ''Slave,'' but the detested thintc ".sl.nfry: ' nn-J •«• U»». 
therefore, the right to insist— before it can he O'^serted witli any r- ■ • --.-.« 
that this august and intelligent body atlirmed or estahlished " tho : 
a slave," an'l thus reversed tlie established law of Nature on ■ » 

language of the Constitution sliould be foim.l to bo so e.\pli. '^ 

Instead of this being the case, we boldly and detiantly n.*vrl that 
examination of eadi and all the clauses (piotcd above, il will \xf i- • ■ • • ■ • -^ 
idea is distinctly excluded therefrom. ... 

The Chief Justice says, "The Constitution hn^ alwn} ' 

" for the perspicuity and a[>|)ropriatenes3 of the lanKU.u'c .. 

And now we proceed to show that the Con-titution. w ;■ .^ 

perspicuous and appropriate, distinctly disaflirms .m ! 
man, by natural law, by the Constitution, or hv tl,r . 
Sec. 2, Clause 3—" No person held to service or labor in 

40 



C2G APPENDIX. 

"What laws? "Under the laws or the Constitution of the United States? " Not at 
all. " In one State under f/ie laics thereof^ — under the laws of such State. This 
distinct reference to the State lairs excludes all idea that such person " is held to 
service or lahor" by force of any otlier laws, or any other antliority, than that of a 
State. " No person held to service or labor under tJie hues tin reoJ\ c?>a\\)Wg\i\to 
another State shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein," (that is any 
law, &c., of the State into which he goes), " be discharged from such service or labor." 
Here a^ain we ask, what " service or labor?" Answer — "The st-rvice or labor 
Avhich was due, or to which the person was held in the State from which he tied, 
under and by virtue of its laws, and no otheis." 

In both cases, precise reference is made to the State laws, and to no other laws. 
Tiie clause proceeds, "but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such 
service or labor may be due," — under the law of his State, and of course under no 
other law. 

If, upon the arrest of a fugitive slave the claimant should affirm that the service 
or labor of such person was due to him under the Constitution of the United States, 
could the fugitive be delivered up on such claim ? Most certainly not. AVe assume 
that this position is too clear for argument, and if so, how can it be said that a right 
of property in such fugitive can be claimed under, or derived from, the Constitution? 

The act passed in 1*793, to carry out this clause, provides tliat the person to whom 
such service or labor shall be due, must jirove to the satisfaction of the magistrate 
before whom such fugitive is taken, " That such person seized or arrested dotli, under 
the laws of the State or Territory from which he or she fled, owe service or lahor to 
tlie person claiming him or her." Thus Congress and the President (Wa^-hington) 
distinctly affirm that the right to such service or labor could only result Jrom the 
law of a State or Territory. 

The right to a person's service or labor comes very short of the right to the 
person himself. The right of service of an apprentice or a redemptioner does not 
jnake eitlier a slave. 

The Constitution in this clause recognizes the existence of two f icts : 1. Tliat 
persons are held to service or labor under State laws. 2. That such perstms do 
escape from the State under the laws whereof they are held ; and beyond the juris- 
diction of such State. If by this recognition of the first fact it can be said to sanc- 
tion or approve such laws, why may it not be said, witli equal correctness, that it 
sanctions or approves the second fact? — the escape. To recognize such a law as an 
exi-ting fact, no more sanctions or approves such a law or the effect thereof, to wit : 
a right of property in such person or to his service or labor, than the recognition of 
the escape sanctions or affirms the right of such person to escape. To recognize the 
exi-teuce of a law, is very far short of sanctioning, approving, or affirming any right 
under such law, or any other effect thereof. The existence of such laws is recognized, 
and that their force and effect does not extend beyond the boundaries of the State 
is admitted or asserted by the fact that this clause is found in the Constitution. If 
the right to "such service or labor" was founded on the same law as that which 
gives a right to a horse or any other chattel, there could have been no necessity for 
such a clause. To protect the right of the owner of a horse which should escape 
into another State, does not require any especial legal, much less a constitutional 
provision. These State laws were thus recognized to exist to prevent all interference 
by the laws or regulations of one State with the rigiit of property, or to personnl 
sc-rvice or labor derived exclusively from and under the laws of another State ; there- 
fore, this provision was inserted. 

The Constitution, by this provision, recognizes the fact that there were laws in 
some of the States under which a right of projjeity in the service or labor of 
})ersons — men and women — in such States is due to others. It does no more; and 
so ill tlie clause next preceding this one, which provides for the rendition of fugitives 
from the justice of one State into another. The words are, "Ape. -on charged in 
any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be 
fiund in another State, shall on demand," &c., "be delivered up," &c. The Con- 
stitution here recognizes the fact that one State may pass laws declaring what acts 
shall be punished as crimes if committed witliin sncli Slate ; which acts may not be 



APPKNDIX. 

heldtobe criminal in other States; as for instance. t„ 

Mavervis criminal and ought to be aboliglu-il.'' a. b'.i!, . 

(iKl ag.iui and again, is by the laws of Vir-nni^i .1 

punish;.ble as sucli by fine and imprisoiuncnt " Cm i; 

stitntion recognizes the existence of a ikkno,- to pa~s such n law 

cause ,t requires that a person whu tlies frun. j,, 'tiro and .h " " 

btate shall be delivered up, that the Constitution atlinnmh,- • 

and adopts It and carries it Avith it into il,e Territories c.r wherever i 

isertective? It surely cannot. 

_ There are various provisions of tlie Constitution which r. . , 

in llie btates and giving etlect to tiieni in otiier States, a-< Arr 

and credit shall be given in each Srate lo the pnblif act- r. 

ceedings of every other State." Tliese facts are Iutc • 

the public acts, records, and judicial proceediuirs ,•,!•.• - ,., 

proved, or adopted. * "" '' " ''"' *'" 

Tlie provision as to fug'tives from instice. fn.'i::\c, :: ' 

acts and judicial proceedings, do ud more dim alHrin th. ■ 
niay be such escapes and judicial proceedings, wl.ich .shall have : 
in other States, between the iuliabitants tlau-cof, when in (.th - ^■ 

We proceed to examine Art. 1, Sec. 9, Clause 1 : " Tho u. -, 

of such persons as any of the States ncrw exi-ting shall t' ' 
not be prohibited by Congress prior to 1808." It is adm. 
to the importation of negroes; tiiat it also embraces the i 
" Ee lemptioners," that i-;, persons who, in order to pay tli 
thorized captains of vessels to sell their service or labor f<>. 
arrival in the United States; and also of that other class of iivrsous mi- 
Mr. Jackson. 

Chief-Justice Taney says: " By this clau93 the right to ]■ 
perty (slave property) is directly sanctioned and ant!; ' ' ' 

We confidently assert and mean to prove tiiat, ; < 

indirectly sanctions or authoi'izes anything of the kind. 

Under the power to regulate cjuinicrce. it is admitted ;... •-■■"' ' . •" .^ 

power to prohibit the migration or importation of perMHis nn 
clause the Constitution does no more than declare tliat i' 
exercise of the power ofprohihiting for' tirenli/ ymr* tl 
of such 2'>eTsons (not property) as any of the States shuU ' 

Not to prohibit a thing to be done, cannot be said t» :• i 
doing of such a thing. To admit the migration or impor 
whoever they may be, whether negroes or felons, ami whone 
whether from Africa or the jails of Europe, and whatever \. . 
after they are within a State, is made to depend entirely upon tli. 
and not at all upon the Constitution of the Uniti''! ^■" " 
dresses itself to the comcience of the States when it - 
States shall " tUnlc proper to admit:'' Is there a word in th 
or even refers to a right to purchase and hold property .' N 
the admission, the condition of the person.s— is conmnf 
discretion, to the laws and policy of the St lU'. If 
be it. If not, so he it. Tlie Oon-titution de.idi-s n> : 
tion. It merely declares that Congress siiail f.rlu-ar to o\ 
hibit it in conformity with the will of the State or St:»ff<. v. 
admitted by the State to come within its bm-d.-r-i. tbt-ir cor 
left exclusively to the power and aiithority of ' 

The Constirntion or Congress under it has n >'^ 

the migration or importation. " You shall ho!d sucIj i 

The Chief Justice of the Supremo Court of f 
their being " purchased and hold as property " )■ 
is " sanctioned and authorized by the Cotistituli 
holds forbids us to intimate the cause of this p.^., .. 
discussions as to the arbitrament of tli.it Coijrtnpon r 
party platform, are pregnant with painful siig.:.srion^. 



628 



APPENDIX. 



We proceed to examine ai-t. 1, sec. 2, clause 3 : " Representatives and direct 
taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within 
this Union, according to their respective numbers" — (it will be remarked that the 
rule of apportionment is numbers, not property. The next branch of the clause 
merely indicates the arithmetical rnle by which the respective numbers shall be 
nscert.-iined) — "which" (the respective numbers of the several States) "shall be 
determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound 
to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all 
other persons." 

Undt-r this arithmetical rule it is reqwived Jirst to ascertain the number of "free 
persons, including those bound to service for a term of years." But in doing this to 
exclude from the number of "free persons Indians not taxcd.^^'' and to the aggregate 
of these free persons to add "three fifths of all other persons." This rule assumes 
that five different conditions of persons may be found in the several States. That, 
as an assumption of fact, may be true as to some States, and not as to others. It, 
however, neither creates, sanctions, nor in any way alFects the conditions of such 
person«, their right, or the rights of others in regard to them. 

1. It assumes that there are free persons. 2. That there are those who are 
" lound " to service for a term of years (redemptioners, apprentices). 3. That there 
are or may be " Indians nob taxed. 4. That there are or may be Indians who are 
taxed; and 5. That there are or may be such other persons as could not come with- 
in the four other classes, to wit: Persons held to "service or labor" under the laws 
of the States. There is a marked distinction between thosa who come within the 
second clas^ and those who come watliin the fifth class, which is worthy of attention. 
The second are " hound,'''' it may be by their voluntary act, as " redemptioners," or 
by the acts of their parents or guardians, as " apprentices." The fifth are " held " to 
service or labor by the laws of the States. The one " bound " for a terra of years, 
the other " held " forever. 

This being exactly and distinctly what is to be the rule for the " actual enumera- 
tion ofthe respective ' nuiubers ' in the 'several States,' " it cannot logically, legal- 
ly, or_ in the common acce[)tance of the language used, be said, that because "the 
Constitution recognized the fact that there were or miiiht be these various condi- 
tions of persons in the States (three out of the five, to wit, the second, fourth, and 
and fiftli, resulting entirely from State laws or policy), that it tlierefore touched, 
much less established, affected, or approved of the condition of either or all of the 
several classes. The Constitution, by prescribing the rule to be observed in making 
the enumeration, cnuld not make some free, otiiers bound for a term of years, others 
untaxed Indians, or others "held" forever. 

Let us test this by reference to the condition of the Indians. If a State sliould 
tax the Indians within its jurisdiction (tlie tribes within the State of New York), 
it most certainly has the power to do so, these being '■'■free person^,'''' and not com- 
ing within the terms of exclusion. ^'Indians not taxed,'''' would be enumerated, 
and thus increase the number of the Represcntativi's of such State. 

The assumption by the Constitution of such a state of facts— such a condition of 
persons — c^in, in no sense whatever, be said to create or affirm the condition of such 
persons. If this is a correct view of this clause, there is no more propriety in saying 
that it. affirms, approves, or creates the other four conditions of persons. 

This clause was intended not only to establish the basis of representation, but to 
enunciate and enforce that great fundamental principle in defence of which we 
engaged in the war of the Revolution — that representation and taxation should he 
concomitant. It was well known that the inhabitants of many of the States had in- 
vested large amounts in that kind of property, which consisted in the " service or 
labor " of persons, under and by the laws of such States ; and when it was declared 
that three fifths of such persons should be enumerated, and form the basis of repre- 
sentation, it was also declared, that they should form the basis of direct taxation, 
and thus, so far as they are made the basis of taxation under this clause of the Con- 
stitution, they are so treated in conformity with the State laws under which such 
property is created and lield. The Constitution takes this subject as it finds it, un- 
der the laws of the States, by which it is held and treated as property. It gives the 



APPENDIX. (J29 

advantage of iucreased representation, rosultinj,' from llio vm •■ --'■»- 

of such persons, to tho50 who hold them, luulor thoir Uwh; .. 

of taxation in the same proportion upi^ii that whicli, uii-l "• 

be property; and in doino; so, it merolv roro-nizes an • [] 

the inhabitants of some of the State-i Lave investo.l l;in,'o n.n..>,!,t. m 

they deem property, to wit : the right to the service or hihor ».f • - 

the laws of their States. In doin?; so, it no more eMnhliihf th . 

it enactji, or sanctions, or aflirms the laws whieh m^ike ;• 

it only recoi^iiizes the fact that by tlie laws oi tlieso - . 

withont affirming or sancticninn; it. ' ' * 

^ And liere we may remark, that while the slavohi.Mers have from !' ' 
enjoyed the benefit in representation mow amoiintin:: to iwonty • 
have never, except during a very short period of the ailinini-tratlo'ii . 
and until the South, under the administraiion of Mr. JelRrMMi, . 
Government, when the law referred to was roixNilo<l, homo tho bunion ■ »- 

tion. During the war of 1812, in the period of tho Govern' •'■ 
was untouched. Mr. Madison says, " In ime respect tlie est li 

measure for representation and taxation, will have a salutnrr ctJ-:t. -.c- 

curacy of the census to be obtained by (Jongre>s will nooovtan'^ ■'■ >• 

siderable degree on the disposition, if not the cooperation of tho " al 

importance that the States should feel as little bias a-* ■ 
the aaiount of their numbers. Were their share of :■ 
governed by this rule, they would have an interest in exn(i'.joriiiiti • 
Were the rule to decide the taxation alone, a contrary tempt;!!. ■.. 
By extending the rule to both ohjerts, the States will luivo o|)iM.».to 
will control and balance each other, and produce the rotjuisitw im|k«(t;^U;ji. \,IX* 
Federalist, No. 45, pp. 200, 261 ; edit, of 1837.) 

This history in part of what was said by distinguished tnoniVr*. «nJ wh«l 
unanimously declared by the Convention, jirovos beyond all <! ■ - 
there was no purpose to establish or uive pow-er to others to c-Ui 
so far from forming a Constitution wliich proprio riijory carri : 
Territories, or which affirmed a right uf property in a slave, it ni -: 
an object of great solicitude on the part of memhors, from tiio ."^outS ji* »o I m 
North, to exclude the very idea from this '• groat charter of !. . ' 

The object of the framers of tho Constitution was to fs: . 
government for that Union on the basis of the equality of man . 
ingsof liberty to themselves and their posterity; to give tho I 
no more power over the States or tho i)e iple thereof than was ■ 
that Union; to direct the foreign relations and such rolatioi - • 
the people thereof, as were necessary and pr.'i)er. "lo r.K .. • 
secure the power of taxation; at tho same time to leave with iho 
people thereof the regulation of such subjects as are of a .L-t - ' 
acter ; and particularly the rights of i)riviito property, ami ■ 
tion thereof. In this view of the sul)jov-t it may bo :. 
establish slavery in a State come within tho scope anJ o y 
the Union? On the other hand, if it were to exist at all. inu*l 
of a character so entirely social and domestic as to l,o in 
reserved rights of the States, and conse-iuontly without a: 

power of the Federal Government. , , „ . ,. , . i , . u, tm.- anM« 
^ This interpretation is that which '• tho Fathers J'^;'' '* J^^ /'"^' ' 
under which the Government was a.lmmistered duri..K '"^'T ' ' 

of its existence, with the approval of all the dcpartmeat. of tho w 

the people of all parts of tho country. _ 

We are told bv Southern men ot distinpm^hod rank, w. 
and manner which can never he properly mdu.go. am-. 
North shall renounce this interpretation, sane ..mod J.. 
itv, and adopt that of Chief .lust.colaney »"" ^''•. 

of the South, the G.vernment and I "";'!. ;;'/';;^J.^,, „„ ,„„»,,;,, ^ L 

and with them the brighest hopes of mankmd, toundi«.i on | | 



030 



APPENDIX. 



Tliis recent heresy is dictated alone by a lu^t for power, disguised under an as- 
sertion, made witli fdl the confidence of truth and sincerity, that unless the Territo- 
ries of the United States siiall he opened to Shivery, there" to he protected by Con- 
gress, the institution will be so " cribbed, coffined, and confined,'' as to be destroyed 
by it'* increasing numbers. 

Tliat this is certainly groundless, is proved by the fact tliat within the area lyin^,' 
between the 30t:h and 30th degrees of North latitude— the Athmtic Ocean on the 
E;ist, and the herds-lands of Texns on the West — there are millions of fertile acres, 
enjoying the -two great meteoriilogical conditions (lieat and moisture) necessary to 
produce cotton, in the g: eatest abundance— w/^ within the Slave States. It has been 
truly i^aid that '• the amount of labor eng;iged in the production of cotton, within 
this region, does not e.xceed that of one strong man to a square mile: " and that, 
" if ouH-half tlie axricultural popnhition of Europe was transferred to this region, it 
would not he ;it all densely peipulated. It is capal)le of producing tenfold the amount 
of its present production." 

The boast of the South is, that it has governed the country for the la^t sixty 
years. And now, well kn.>wing that through the vast increase of population in the 
Free States, they are required by an inevitable necessity to yield to the power of 
niinibers, and to be governed hereafter by that great rule of Democratic government 
—•'the will of the majority," they struggle to subvert all the established rules 
for the construction of the Constitution; and thus, by carrying slaves, as property, 
into the Territories, ultimately to be admitted as Slave States, to perpetuate that 
majority in the Senate which now controls the Government. 

Upoii this issue they have broken up the great Democratic Party, to whose past 
subserviency they owe their domination ; and we are now told, that through it;', 
destruction "■ the South may ie plunged into revolution.''^ We are confident that a 
la'-ge proportion of the people and statesmen of the South are as true to their inter- 
es;s and t'leir patriotic impulses as were tlioir ancestors. The peoi)lo of the North 
hear these threats of disunion with no other emotion than tliat humiliation which a 
family feels from the degradation of one of its members. 

" Disunion '" is a word of mighty import. There is no mind in the country capa- 
ble of forming a practicable schejue of peaceable secession, or of measui-ing the ca- 
lamities of a bloody one, and particularly to that section where "'anunhappv s|)ecies 
of population abounds," to whom Mr. Madison alludes as those " who, daring the 
calm of regular Government, are sunk below the level of men; but who, in the 
temjjesruous scenes of civil violence, may emerge into the human character, and 
give a superiority of strength to any party with which they may associate them- 
selves." 

This language of one who well understood the restless condition of the people 
to whom he referred, pointed to dome-tic insurrection. They are words of fearful 
import, in the event of a civil war resulting from a separation occasioned by the ex- 



isting issue. 



It is a gross heresy to maintain " that a part)/ to a comimct has a right to revoke 
that cotnpact,"' (The Federalist), as no State can have the i-ight to withdraw from 
its compact with the other States, without their consent. The Government of the 
United States was formed by a compact among all the States, by the people there- 
of, for ''themselves and their posterity." In the event of secession by one or more 
States, the actual President is required by liis duty and his oath of office, to '■ pro- 
tect aiul defend the Constitution," to exert all the powers of the Government to com- 
pel obedience to the laws by every State or section of the country. This is war. 

We forbear to pi.rsne these reflections, under the conviction that no man who is 
not mad, or so base as to be wholly unworthy of consideration, would, in the actual 
condition of our afl:airs, in any result of the coming election, or for any other cause, 
until the last extremity, counsel or advise Iiis countrymen to resort to such a fratri- 
cidal and suicidal course. All the evils presented to the people's consideration, as 
in any degree justifying such a dire alternative, are purely speculative. It is said 
that the election of the Kepublican candidate as President would require snch a re- 
sort, because it is assumed that such a result would establish the right of interven- 
tion by Congress as to Slavery in the Territories — that is to say, if a majority of the 



AriT.NDlX. (J3J 



in 



people sanction by their voices tlio constitutioiml now«»r of r«f« 

Slavery in the Territories, tliis would now l)o an iiitDliT.;' 
same party of the South insist an;l hope to prove by tin.' • . 
that a majority of the people may sanction by their vot.^s tlio ii,' 
gress to su8taiii Slavery in the Territories. It is hnpi)s«il,l.. • 
ppectable portion of the South can be moved to Iiaz.ird :: 
Union upon such absurd abstractions. 

We trust the statesmen of the South will return to the w'— .........', . *■.> . 

trious dead, and unite with their brethren of the North, n- • 

days of the Republio, in secnrin? an administration of tho d- 

principles which guided tliose who formed tlie Constitution, nii 

the rights of all sections and people, and sternly rebuke tho prothjjato cxir»-. 

and gross corruption of the present Administration. 

J.VME3 A. IIaxiltox. 



INDEX-1. 

REMINISCENCES, VOYAGES, AND T.KTrKllS. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON-REMLVISCEXCES BV HIS SON, JAMU^ A. IlAMILTOX 

Date of Birth, 2— His family, 1— Earliest remini-ccncc ; nttack of Yellow Kcrer. t 

ney from Philadelphia to Albany, 1— Clerkship with Nichol«« (V ' -■ 

Letter in 1769 to Dr. E. Stevens, 2 -To his hrothcr Jamw, 2— V 

at Albany, 3— Return to New York, 3— His family circlr, 3— Hi* New Yor* U* fnt- 

tice, 3— His daughter Angelica, 3— Removal to the Graiipc n.-»r NVw \ . 

his son Philip in a duel in 1802, 3— Letter to the Same in 17U1, 3— H;« 

the Treasury, 3— Letter to his daughter Angelica in 1793, 4— Hit pfr; 

of, 4 — Arrangement with Messrs. Ogden, 5— Refusal to •h*r<! their j- 

letters to Creditors of Colonel Duer, 5— Pecuniary moan«, &— J."-— • 

Letter to Mr. Morris, in 1792, 6— Sensitiveness on chartctor (■: 

Insinuations of President Madison, 7— Remarks of TallcTraml *rt 

and character, 7, 230 — Letter to Governor Clinton on St«! 

Y''ork wild lands, 8 — His influence on dismi.-^sal of French M 

tion to the abduction of General Clinton, 11 — His definition of lib«l and in fcT 

Court and Constitution, 11 — Anecdotes; Tunis ^Vo^tman, 11 — Reply : *' 

of Errors, 22 — Letter to a Young Friend in 1804, 13 — Opinion on »t<K» - 

Legislative Officials, 14 — Letter in 1704 to his sister, Mm. Church, H— A 

eal letter in 1799 to a friend in Scotland, 15— Letter in 1707 of hU mo >— 

Disproval of Charges on the debt, by JelTerson, ir«, tl t^q. — ' ' ■ 

Debts, 17 — Correspondence with Henry Lee on the Debt, 17, . 

for veracity, and correspondence thereon, 20, ct ttq. — I.<rttcr lo ^^ »»•' 

son's objections to his financial system, 23 — Albert Gallatin'* ." *• 

Jefferson on the same, 23, 121— His Authorship of W > ' •- - ■ '• ' *~ 

Jefferson's " Ana " on the Financial System, 3.'.— Its [ •**• 

in 1790, to House of Representatives, 36— Virginia and Kcntockj 

to William Hetb, 38— Thesis on Discretion, 4i>— Cau.w ot' ' " ' 

His last words on the subject, 57— Governor Giles on i • 

Madison's vindictivcness, 61— Calhoun on lii.-« H'c.v, 82— Olb C- 

or Plumcr's letter, etc., J. A. Hamilton to SecrcUry Adam* 

of Louisiana, his approval of. 111, 112. IKi-Hi. maiim on T . ■ 

Sacred Rights of Mankind, 516— Kstinmte to \V.T.l.incton in 17 'V >-< 

Piracies, 578— His death in 1804, 3. (For dctaiU of bin a 

Farewell Address, see Washington, in General Index ) 

Mrs. Elizabeth, WIFE OK ALKXANnr-n, HAMiLTON—Her r-.l.rr. V 
ler, 1— Letter in 1827 to her .«on, James A.. f.»-io (' 
for Europe, 289— Her residence in AVa^liinpton. Oi ■■ • •■• 

character and habits, 65. 



/ 



C34 INDEX. 



JAMES A. IIAMILTOX— PERSONAL HISTORY AND RECOLLECTIONS. 

Birth and Parentage, 1 — Recollections of his parents, 1 — At Columbia College in 1804, 40 — 
His Father's thesis on Discretion, 40 — Graduated; entered office of Judge Pendleton, 
40 — Admitted to the Bar and commenced practice at Waterford, 40 — Ills Cliallenge of 
Mr. John Cramer, which was refused, 41 — Removed to Hudson County, 41 — His Mar- V 
riage, 41 — Poverty, self-denial, and faith in the future, 41 — Removal to New York, 44 — 
Offered Military Service to Governor Tompkins, 4o — Served as Deputy Quartermaster in 
Col. Varian's regiment, 45 — Appointed Brigade Mnjor and Inspector of General Haight's 
Brigade, and served until the Peace, 45 — Returned to the law; appointed Master in 
Chancery, 45 — Rcf^ignation of Mastership refused by Governor Tompkins, 45 — Method 
of practice, 54 — Value and business of the office, 46 — Purchased house in Yarick street, 
4G — Appointed to settle estate of late Gouverneur Morris, 46 — Early Political Life, 48 — 
Establishment of the Amtrican newspaper, 48 — The Bank of America, 48 — Inquiry into 
the conduct of Mr. Van Ness, 48 — Removal from Mastership by Governor Clinton and 
why, 53 — Loss of $1,000 note, and conduct of Bank of America thereon, 54 — Forgery 
of a challenge to Aaron Bun-, 55 — The De Longuemare and Meade claims, 57, 58, 60 — 
Undertook duties of District-Attorney Rodman, 5*7 — Visit to John C. Calhoun, 62 — His 
Mother's illness and death in 1854, 64 — Purchase of Real Estate, 66 — Paid Mortgage on 
the Varick street House, 66 — Visit to General Jackson, 6*7 — Appointed one of Deputa- 
tion to visit New Orleans, 6*7 — Introduction to Mrs. A. L. Donelson, 68 — Publicly 
entertained by Citizens of Nashville, 68 — Conversations with Mrs. General Jackson, 70 — 
Anecdote of New Orleans bonnet purchases, 70 — Presentation of the New York delega- 
tion to Gov. Henry Johnson, 71 — The Quadroons, their condition, 72 — Proceeded to 
Mobile and Montgomerj', 72 — Visit to Captain Walker, at Fort Hull, 73 — Impressions 
of General Jackson, 75 — Correspondence on the saine subject, 75 — Letters on General 
Jackson's Cabinet, 76 — Correspondence on the Presidential Election, 79 — Appointed 
Aid to Governor Van Buren, SO — Declines, and is pressed to reconsider, 81 — Finally 
declines, 82 — Election of President Jackson, 87 — Assists President Jackson in selecting 
Cabinet and other officers, 87 — Correspondence thereon, 88 — Appointed Acting Secre- 
tary of State,* 107 — Appointed United States District Attorney for Southern New 
York,! 140 — Aids President Jackson in preparing Bank Message, 149 — Some particu- 
lars of Business of, 238 — Painful duty in Gibbs piracy case, 249 — Resigns District 
Attorneyship; testimony of President Jackson on his services, 266, 267 — His heavy 
advances to the Post-office Department, 280 — Offers Military Service in expected 
war -with France, 283 — Witnesses the Great Fire of New York, 285 — His method 
of Arresting adopted, 285 — Offers Military Service to Governor Marcy, 310 — 
Joins the expedition against the Dorr insurrection, 351 — Renewed offers of Military 
Service, 355 — Appointed Delegate to Chicago Improvements Convention, 355 — 
His Call for a Meeting in New York to arrest Disunion, 414 — His eflorts to settle 
the rule on Appointments and Removals, 436 — The Rebellion, 440— Becomes an 
Abolitionist, and devotes himself to aiding the Government, 441 — Offers Military 
Service in 1861 to General Scott, 477 — Appointed in 1861, with others, to con- 
fer with President Lincoln ; his plans in 1861 of Military operations, 477 — Renewed offer 
to Governor Morgan of Military Service, 501 — Offers the same to President Lincoln, 
503 — Offers to organize a Slave Brigade, 504 — Presides at New York Emancipation 
Meeting, 514 — Invited, but unable, to address Citizens of Boston, 537 — Is one of a 
deputation to President Lincoln on Slavery, 548. 

* For official pnpers, etc., sc^e Titles of, in General Index. t Ibid. 



IMMA. ^.,- 



TOYAGKS Tu i:i icupK. 

First Yoyagk, ,x 183G. President Jackson's l..|t,.r. 2H^-V 
Ducbess de Broglic, Madame de StacI, M. do XiuvilL- -JH-j-l 
Duke dc Ncnon, Grand Duke of Tuscany. -JOO-Romo: U.|» C'owwr, 
Fatlier Esmond, tl,e Vatican Library, M,./.zofanfi. ll.c Cn/.o ofV, 
de Rothsay, 291— Gambling, tl.c Jo^-uits' follo-c, 29I-Xa|.lc.: \ 
family and government, 295— public institutions and people. 29« 
don, 29'7— Letters to Xobility, 297- Party at Holland I' 
Lord Holland on American politics, 298— Talfourd, Roj,- ... .... 

with America, Didcc and Ducliess of Putiierlimd, 21t'j— VUil to t 

299— Lord and Lady Leicester and tlicir family, 30<>— Return to I,» 

Mr. Whittaker, conversations on Durliam catilo, lalx^ 

burgh: Sir William Hamilton, Lord JcflVies, the Earl nf I, 

Peers, Grange in Ayrshire, Alexander Haniilton, nhiakcy tnil the ex 

Hamilton, 302— Return to London, o(i;5— Visits t«. !: 

House, Anecdote of Macaulay, Lords nrouglmni, Lyn , 

— The American Constitution, 305 — Lord Holland's . 

ander Hamilton, SOS— Leaves for Paris. Paris: Visit lo Primtj i 

Prince's Memoirs, liis person, and habits, 307— T" 

portrait of Alexander Hamilton, 308 — The Phil . 

Duchess de Denon, with lock of Talleyrand's hair and bis ^ 

author, 309. 

Second Voyage — visit to Rc.ssia. The Schuyler Contrnet wiih the KiuMin 
for the A^rt»?sc//rt/'/M, 3IS— Sailed in that siiip, 319-""' •■ • ■ 
of the Voyage, Southampton to Copenhagen, 320 — .\ 
Huygens, the Princess of Hesse, 320 — The Panes, 821—' 
Custom House, my passport, 322 — St. Petersburg, ■ 
Prince Menschikoff and ofiicial evasions, 32 i — Mr. S, ..... , 
koff on the Kmnschalka contract, 325— Mr. Unmilton lo « 
same, 327— Dines with Baron Steiglit/, Minister Todd, and Mr. M- 
of the Kmmchatka negotiation, 329- Th.' Emperor V ' • 
329— Railroads, 330— Serf-;, their condition, :'.:'.i*— !{■ 
332— The army, education, 333— The Greek Church, 831— VU1» lo I 
the English amb.assador, S.*?!— Review of troops, 'M^' 
335— Police, ^^Q—Juurual dr St. Pikr»hnrp, 337—1:. • 
The Countess and the .=erf, 338— Orgaid&ition of llx' •■ 
Money, productions of Russia, 349— Prescntnlion to •' 
supper at the Palace, 312— Conversation with •' 
supper, 343— Vi.4t to the Hospital, 313— " »■ 
344__Left; St. Petersburg, 345— Journey to ncrlin, 
garden, 346— Visit to Humboldt, 317— Return to \. 
347_Sydney Smith at Lady Holland's dinner, ".47 . 
Battle of New Orleans, 347— Thoma.x Mo*irf, S4H— Ur 
Dinner at Lord Palmcrston's, 349— Conversation with ll-." M ' 
distinguished guests, 349. 

TiiiRn Voyage— Italy. London, Pari.s arrival at \'\ 

358— Mr. Grcenough, the Sculptor, 3.-.8— Arriv. 

358— The Pope's dispo.-ition, 359- Tribunal of l'. 



636 INDEX. 

Statistics of the Roman States, 360— Letter to a Friend on Italian AfTairs, 361— Italy 
and Italian Reforms, 362— Brunetti and the Jesuits, 365— Garibaldi on the same, 365— 
Demand for Reforms by the People, 365— Paper addressed by Mr. Hamilton to the Pope 
on these reforms, 367— Position of Italy, and Rome in particular, 369— Reflections on 
the same, by the Author, for circulation, 369— Left for Naples, 372— Acquaintance with 
the Viceroy of Egypt, 372 — Invited to join a combination of Italian Liberals and declines, 
373— The Revolution, fighting at Naples, 374— Left for Milan, Venice, thence to Vienna, 
375— At Vienna, the Vienna Revolution, 376— The Austrian-Papal Concordat, 378 — 
Arrived at Dresden, 379— Concessions by the King, 379— Met Mr. Forbes, dined with 
Sir R. K. Arbuthnot, 379— Repudiation by German States, 380— By other Countries, 
380_Holland and the Dykes, 380— The Haarlem Sea, 381— Antwerp : Police in Holland, 
381— Arrived in Paris, 382— Incidents of the Revolution of 1848, 382— Call of General 
Lafayette, prepared for him a draft of a Constitution, 384— Letter to General Lafayette 
on the same, 385— Hints by the Author of a plan for relief of France, 387 — Left Paris 
for England, 389 — Threatened riots in London, 389. 

Fourth Voyage — the Yacht America. The Royal Yacht Club's invitation, 395— Sailing of 
the America and ariival at Havre, 396— Challenge by the New York Yacht Club, and 
Lord Wilton's reply, 397— Commodore Stevens' rtjoinder, 398— Victory over the T'dania, 
400 — The Regatta race for the Cup, and victory of the America, 400 — Visit to her by 
the Queen and Prince Consort, 400 — Sale of the America, 401. 

Fifth Voyage. Parisian habits, 422— Paul Morphy, 423— Education, 424— The Women of 
Paris, 425— The Men of France, 425 — Napoleon's policy, 425— Foreign Relations, 426. 



LETTERS BY JAMES A. HAMILTON, TO 

Adams, John Q. On Otis Correspondence, 108. 

Andrew, Gov. John A. Proposed Constitutional Amendments, 571. 

Arnold, Isaac N. Coasting Slave Trade, 573, 

Barnard, D. D. Assault on Mr. Sumner, 411. 

Barry, Major. On Supply of Money to Post Office Department, 281. 

Blair, Francis P., jr. On Organizing the House, 427. 

Blunt, George W. Imbecility of President Buchanan, 577. 

Bond, Hugh L. Drafting Negroes, 567 — Reply, 569. 

Boston Committee. Reply to Invitation, 537. 

Bronson, Isaac. Bank Deposits, 253, 

Brougham, Lord. With thanks for Works of, 348. 

Brownson, Dr. 0. A. Expressions of Mr. Seward, 536. 

Buchanan, (Sec.) James. With Tuscan Treaties, 366. 

Buchanan, President. His Treatment of Secession, 450 — His duty and responsibilities, 458. 

Cameron, Simon. Suggestions on War Department, 494. 

Cass, Lewis. Missouri Compromise, 412. 

Cauldwell, William. Committee of Public Safety, 481. 

Chase, S. P. Collectors and Closing Ports, 474 — The Same, 476— Failure of Aid from New 
York Banks, 480, 481 — Financial Report; New York Frauds, 495 — Report to Senate; 
Funding System, 496 — Loan ; Negro Enlistments, 503 — State Rights and Democratic 
Party, 504 — Report, December 1861, 506 — National Banks, etc., 507 — Currency and 
Revenue, 511 — Miniature of Alexander Hamilton for Bank Note, 511, 512, 513 — New 
York AVar Meeting, 513 — Banking System, 518 — President's Call and Conquest of Texas, 
523 — ^Financial Suggestions, 537 — Additions to Banking Bill, 548 — Six per cent. Notes, 



553_On his chance for the P.esi.lonoy; S.orv l.y Tl.urlow Wc.l 
Banking B.ll, 558-Clioice of Currency Co.npirollor. f.s,_s^. , 
Bonds with Savings Banks, 5G-2-Mine,s revenue fro,„. 50.9 
Chicago Improvement Conventio,,. L.tter to a .ii,tinj,uUhed n,cn,Ur oT. «U 
Clay, Henry. Bank question. 317. 
Cochrane, John. Congress Organization, J 1 1 . 
Coleman, W. New York Appointments, 133, 13-1, 137. 
Cooper, Edward. Duty on Iron ; Peter Cooper, .M?. 
Crosswell, E. On Van Burcii for Vice I'lcsi.l.n't, -^w. 
De Castillea, Senor. Future of lt;ily, ;;ss. 
De Sacken, Baron. Relations with France, 153, 
De Kegina, Duke. On Official Practice, 197. 
Discreet Friend. Louisiana Annexation; .Mr. Plumer'« lottor, ttc, I27- .i 

various, 136, 137, 138— Revision of Message, etc., ir.l. 
Eames, Charles. Future of the Country, 510, 520. 
Evart.s, W. M. Asking Inipeaclmieut of President Hiichan.iti. ■».-,|. 
Fellow-Citizens. Call for Union Meeting, 414. 
Fenton, Gov. R. E. Slavery Constitutional AmendmenL«, 577. 
Fessenden, W. P. Dixon's Constitutional -Vmcndnicnt on Taxation, S52— On kk »< 

to the Treasury, 574. 
Fish, Hamilton, Fillmore's Nomination and the Whigs •*!•'. 
Forsyth, John, 211. 

Friend, A. Jackson's Cabinet, 102— New Yoik Dijitrict-.Vti- - . • - > 
with Jackson, 1G8 — Message, 190, 191 — Visit to Same, . 
243 — Italy and the Italians, 3G1— From Pari."), 423. 
Gentleman in Washington. Future of the Country, 518, 62o. 
Fillmore, President. Northeastern Boundary, .'!50. 
Governors of Loyal States. A Circular to, 52(5. 
Green, Duff. Bank of United States, 152. 
Hammond, E. Defence of Rcputjlican Party, 470. 
Harrison, President. Relations with Italy, 314. 
Hartt, Dr. Loyal League and the Elections, 547. 
Humboldt, Baron. With Works of Ilainillon, 415. 

Jackson, President. Advertisers Charge of Speculating, 152— Hank ', . IJI \*m 

168, 251, 261, 265— Belgian and Dutch War, 228— Rritij.h Rrfortn H 
Political Affairs, 161— British Assumptions in America, 171- ■ 
190- Causes tried, 238— District-Atlorneysliip Kes-igiinlion. '.' 
— French Claims, 219— Geiman Trade, 175— Manufoclurcr»' • 
220 — Polish liberty, 220— Military Service, offer of, 28»— North^Micrn J 
Nullification, 24'.l— Political Comiiromise, 2li'.— Pru->*ian TrraiT. Ill— T 
218— West India Trade Negotiation, ISO. 
Judicious Friend. Official ignorance of History, 13«— Source of Am*fk«i« InJ 

134. 
Kentucky Military Board. War Loan, 501. 

King, Charles. Reduction of Rcbellio.is State.'* to TcrritoHw, and •rmlo^ J^Ut^ •«•. 
King' Gov. J. A. His Message, 419— Vine GroWcrs" Coiirentioo, 631. 
Lafryette, Gen. G. W. With draft of French Constilution. ->- 
Lawrence, W. B. Bank Question, 310. 
Lewis, AVilliam B. Van Bureu's and Eaton's Resignation. 213 

214. 
Lieber, Dr. Francis. On Gift of Portrait of Alexander !' ■ 



638 INDEX. 

Lincoln, President. Compromise to avoid Secession, 469 — His Cabinet ; Gen. Dix and Re- 
publican Party, 4T2, 470— Army Appointments, 482— Removal of ****** * and 
Appointment of Holt, 498— His Message, December 1861, 506 — Urging call for half a 
million Men, 1862, 525 — Condition and Treatment of Texas, 555 — The Same, 557 — On 
Gov. Andrew for the Treasury, 5*76. 
McCulloch, Hugli. Debt, Public Lands, etc., 578. 
McKay, Col. James. Condition of Negroes Commission, 561 — Slavery Constitutional 

Amendment, 575. 
McLane, Louis. Secretary Ingham's Removal, 169 — Jackson's reply to Calhoun, 245. 
Marcy, Gov. AV. L, With offer of Military Service, 310.** 
Maxey, Solicitor. Bellevue Prisoners, 247. 
Meredith, Secretary. Mint Deposits, 395. 
Morgan, Gov. E D. Perils of the Country, 456 — Votes of Volunteers in the Field, 516 — 

Debt and Sale of Public Lands, 582. 
New York Eighth District Committee. Pennsylvania Invasion, 563. 
New York War Committee. Interview with President Lincoln with Report, September, 1862, 

529. 
North East Boundary. (Sec North East in General Index.) 
Pickering, Timothy. Jackson's Character, etc., 76. 
Pinckney, T. C. Warning against Secession, 446. 
Plait, IL Y. With offer to organize Slave Brigade, 504. 
Polk, President. On ^isit to Italy, 356. 
Pope, The. On Italian Affairs, 367. 

Pophani, Major W. (hi Loan to Alexander Hamilton, 9. 
Prime, Dr. A. J. Address to Westchester County Citizens, 528. 
Princess of Orange Jewels. (See Princess in General Index for letters.) 

Kev. . Duty of Obeying Draft, 566. 

Rhind, Mr. and the Present of Horses. (See Rliind in General Index for letters.) 
Robertson, D. II. Special Deposits with Savings Banks, 560. 
Robinson, Lucius. Coin Payment of Interest, 573. 

Rogers, S. With Works of Hamilton, 403 — Reply on Presents of Poems, 404. 
Ruggles, S. B. Export Duty Constitutional Amendment, 572. 
Sandford, General. Volunteers for Sumter, 461. 
Scott, General. On the Same — disapproved, 462. 

Seward, W. H. With Alexander Hamilton's estimate of losses by Piracy, 578. 
Seymour, Gov. H. Pennsylvania Invasion, 563. 
Spofford, Paul. Circulation of Breadstuffs, 417. 
Stanton, E. M. Town Quotas, 536— Tarrytown Draft Riots, 563. 

Sumner, Charles. Coasting Slave Trade, 516— Texas Sul)jugation, 554 — Pennsylvania Inva- 
sion, 562-3. 
Swartwout, Collector. (See Princess of Orange in General Index.) 
Taylor, President. Isthmus of Panama, 393. 
Tompkins, Governor. With offer of Military Service, 45. 

Van Buren, Martin. Declining Appointment of Aid, 81 — Banks and Banking, 82 — Diplo- 
matic Appointments, 96 — Russian Treaty, 159 — Parliamentary Reports, 193 — North 
East Boundary, 198, 199 — Rhind, 206 — on his resignation, 212— War and Atlantic 
Steamers, 312. 
Vandcver, William. Reduction of Rebellious States to Territories, 508 — On the Same, 524. 
Van Sliolten, General. Cabinet Changes, 190. 
Warner, Matthew. Impressions of Andrew Jackson, 75. 
Wobstrr, Daniel. Van Buren's Message, and British Steam Marine, 312. 



INDKX. 



Welles, Gideon. Suggestions on Xavy Dcpartn.o..,, ..94-0„ OUv 

A\ estchester County Citizens. On Draft, 527 

Wilson, Henry. Appointments and Ro.novaK «» 

A\ light, Captain, of London, on Presidential Election 79 



LETTERS TO JAMES A. HAMILTO.V. FROM 

Adams, J. Q. Alexander Ilan.ilton's opposition to IVdcralUi .Uisn; 1 1.. 

Uarry, Major. Funds for Post-Omee Dopartincnf, 280. 

Bradish, Luther. On paper by James A. ILm.iiton-- Prup, ... ,„ \l.„. • ,.| 

Brooklyn Navy Yard Commander. Deteniion of the Vim-on!..'.. lo.r 

Bunner, Pi. Cabinet Appointments, 88, 89. 

Cambreleng, C. C. Cabinet AppointmenLs S^-Exunt ul Lu^nc.j of J4»« A. lU 

125 — Van Buren for Vice President, 240 212. 
Cass, Lewis. Mi.^souri Compromise, -111. 
Chase, S. P. Thanks for adviee, ISO— Bank interest ; U.^ of .- 
Mr. Morgan; Alexander Uamiiton'.-^ portrait, for N'olcs, :.i;. 
tions, 546— Homans, Mr., and Bankers' Magizine N"o!c«, .M7 — ; 
bition, 574. 
Chicago Convention. Letter of a distingui.-lied Member of, li.". 
Cochrane, John. On Paper of J. A. E. on Seccs.-'ion, 45:1. 
Coleman, William. President Jackson's Incompetency, 12iJ—N 
Crosswcll, E. On Van Burcu for Vice President, 242. 
Donelson, A. J. On illness of President Jackson, 153. 
Everett, Edward. A Union Whig Party and Fillmore's KominalioD. 4 

Miscellaneous subjects, 404. 
Fish, Hamilton. The Wliig Party and Fillmore's Noa.; 
Green, General Duff. On Preparing General Jaek<'.n"- 
Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander, his Mother, in 1827, »>!. 
Hooper, S. Legal Tenders, Loans, etc., 512. 
Hoyt, J. New York District-Attorncyship, l2.'>, Ij.<<. 
Hunt, Washington. Possibility of Coujpromises, 49(5. 
Jackson, President. Governor Clinton, 75 — Governing by Law, 144—11 
(see also " Bank" in General Index) Ciiargcs by General <• 
Report, 16T — Mr. Malibran, 171 — His own course, 171 — » 
Pirate Gibbs, 218— French Claims, 221, 227— XuIli6calio:., 
On his Bank Message, 234 — Van Buren's Rcjcclion I 
eral's loss of $40,000, 237— On M.S. Reply to f" 
Changing U. S. Deposits, 20O, 2(n— Resigi... 
A. Hamilton, 207— Views of James A. Hamilton on lUal 
270_On Rural Life, 284— On James A. 11 
the Caroline Capture, 310— Rliind Presouu, 
King, Gov. Jolin A. Monetary Convul.-ions, 419. 
King, Preston. On Paper on " Property in Man," 466. 
King, Rufus. Washington's Farewell Ad<lre.<'», 21. 
Lawrence, W. B. Bank tjucslion, 31(5. 
Leonard, Moses G. On the Draft, etc., oCi. 
Lewis, W. n. Official Removals, 124— CoMnVr on Va 
tion of \:\n Burcu, 237— Van lluren for Vu-e Pr.- 
258— President's intention to withdraw Do|H)*itj<. 



640 INDEX. 

dent Jackson and his enemies, 282 — Message and the Opposition, 282 — Attempt to assas- 
sinate President Jaclcson, 283 — War with France improbable, 284. 

Lewis, W. B. Letters to James A. Hamilton on Bank Questions (see " Banks " in General 
Index.) 

McKay, Col. James. Commission on Emancipated Negroes, 560 — Copy of Order for, 561. 

McLane, Louis. Mallory's Report on British Colonies, 160 — Government and Politics, 162 — 
Senatorial Elections ; European Affairs, 188 — Polish Revolution, 192 — European War 
Prospects, 194 — Collector Swartwout suit, 236 — Jackson's MS. reply to Calhoun, 245. 

Letters on Northeastern Boundary (see North-East, in General Index.) 

Letters on Princess of Orange's Jewels (see Princess, in General Index.) 

Marcy, Gov. W. L. Van Buren for Vice President, 241. 

Morgan, Gov. E. D. Debt and Public Lands, reply on, 583. 

Pendleton, E. 11. Irving's Fourth Volume, 418. 

Potter, Edward T. On Plan of Military Operations, by James A. Hamilton, 414. 

Read, John M. On Paper " Property in Man," 455. 

Rev. Duty of Obeying the Draft, 565. 

Rhind, C. On leaving for his Mission, 148. 

Letters on the Rhind Presents (see "Rhind," in General Index.) 

Rives, W. C. French Claims and Treaty, 200, 238. 

Ruggles, S. B. Export Duty Constitutional Amendment, 576. 

Sedgewick, C. B. Arming Negroes, 524. 

Silliman, B. D. Address by James A. Hamilton to Naval Cadets, STC. 

Sumner, Charles. Port Bill, 483 — Rebuff of Secession Commissioners by Lord John Russell, 
483— On a Bankrupt Bill, 576. 

Sumner, George. French and Italian Affairs, 389, 391. 

Van Buren, Martin. Mr. Adams' Nominations, 62, 63, 64 — Various political affiiirs ; Cabinet 
Nominations, etc., 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 89, 92, 93, 94, 95— Government Printing ; Office 
Seekers, 129 — Mr. Rives' Instructions; Cuba; Tariff, etc., 141, 142 — Diplomatic Ar- 
rangements, 143 — Denial of Cabinet dissensions, 144 — Newspapers on Foreign Affairs, 
.145 — Portugal, 146 — Various family and other matters, 149 — Prussian Treaty, 160 — 
McLane'fi Negotiations, 166 — Major Eaton's Card in Telegraph, 170 — Misunderstanding 
with * * * J 173 — Request for paper on Internal Improvements, 187 — Commer- 
cial Act of 1823, 189— Eaton's Choctaw Treaty, 190— His Resignation, 213— Cabinet 
Changes, 213— The Same, 218— Probable movements, 22«— British Reform Bill, etc., 
229, 234— His London Establishment, 230— Leaving for Paris, 244— Tariff and Bank 
Bills, 246— Washington Affairs, 247 — with Van Sholten's letter, 266. — Letters on Rhind 
Present (see "Rhind" in General Index.) 

"Van Sholten, P. Their mutual friendship, 190. 

"Very Distinguished Gentleman, on Emancipation Policy, 526. 

"Webster, Daniel. Chicago Convention of June, 1847, 355, 356 — and other lawyers on the 
Missouri Compromise, 436. 



GENERAL IXDl^X, 



Adams, Jobn ; and the dismissal of M. Genet, the French MinUtcr at \\ 
Adams, John Quincy. Conversations on Florida Haims TmtT. as-lnlrrrtf w o« 

Public Securities in his hands, 112— Note to M. d.- N. ■;' " , Okj Frroch T««ui; ;i. 
Alison, Archibald. Criticism of Washington's Farewell A.. i. 

Allain, Mr. The Quadroon daughters of, 72. 
America, The Yacht. (See Fourth Voyage.) 

American, the, Newspaper established, 48— Sued for Libel by Mr. V»n V-^- " 
Ames, Fisher. Taliiing powers of, 13. 
Annexation, Plans of, by Secessionists, WO. 
Anti-Masons. Their proposed Support of lleury Clay, 220. 
Anti-Slavery. (See Slavery.) 
Application for Office, a specimen of, 98. 

Appointments and Removals. President's power over. (Soe I" i 

Austria. Failure of a Treaty with, 108— Report, in 1S29, ■ -, -..k tv^ r. •..! 

States, 603. 
Autle, Colonel. Killed in the Revolutionary War, 3 — Ult orphan i 
Bank of America in New York, 43 — Charge of Conuplion in ■ • 

1812, 48— J. A. Hamilton's lost $l,0(iO note, the H.ink'.s . 
Bank of Columbia, the, and the Bank of America loan, •I'.'. 
Banks of New York and Secretary Chase's loan proposal, 4S'"», .|-%l. 
Bank of the United States. Defeat of Bill to rcchnrtcr, 4r. — PrvaiiWot Ji'k •«•'*• w«^. ~. 

149 — Plans for a United States Bank, offices of Deposit, etc , l.y J < 

544 — Mr. McDuffie's Report, letters on, 166, 167— Varioui 1 

265, 269, 316 — President Jackson's announced intention In 

(See also Funding). 
Blackstone, Sir William. On Treason and Forfeiture, 4 |3— On I.ilwMj aaJ N 
Bond, II. L. On drafting Negroes for the War, 569. 
Brace, C. L. Philanthropic work of, 421— On the ,Vpi."'>''"' • -— .■' '".^ 
Brazil. Report in 1829 on relations with the United .^ 
Breadstuffs. A Plan to forward and circulate, 41ft— Utter on wm to V 
Buchanan, President. Administration of, mid party d' 

for his impeachment, 454— Suggestions t", on I 

refusal of Volunteers for Fort Sumter, 462. 
Bunner, Mr. (See Church, John P.) 
Burr, Aaron. Forged challenge to of J. \. Harni!'"" ■■—i'y 

Ilanulton, 56. 
Cabot. George. John Adams and M. Genet, 9. 
Calhoun, Julin C^ On policy of Alexander II , 

Jackson's cabinet appointments. 91-1' 

newspaper correspondent-", 127— Vindication of ! 

41 



042 GENERAL INDEX. 

Jackson's MS. reply to the same, 244, 245 — His union with Clay, 251 — Plans to "Fire 
the Southern heart," 449. (See also Nullification). 

Call for a meeting to Preserve the Union, 457. 

Canada. British efforts to create Rivalry with the United States, 165. 

Caroline. The, Capture of, 311. 

Carter, John. (See Church, John B.) 

Central America. Federation, Report, in 1829, on relations with, 604. 

Chamber of Commerce. On the Levy of export duties, 5*72. 

Chase, S. P. Suggestions by J. A. II. to, on collection of Revenue, 157, 537 — His failure 
■with New York banks and loan, 480, 481 — Papers on, by .1. A. H., on loans and taxa- 
tion, 485, 542, 550 — Report, in 1801, prepared by J. A. H., on the Finances, 490 — Re- 
port, in 1861, on the Funding system, 492 — Conversation of Thurlow Weed on his 
chances of the Presidency, 558. — Disclaims personal Ambition, 574. 

Cherokee Indians. Remonstrance against Georgia usurpation, 134. 

Chicago. Internal Improvement Convention in 1847, 355, 611. 

Chicago Ccinvention of 1860. Letter of member, 453 — Platform and General McClellan, 574. 

Church, John B. Case of his Citizenship and Spanish claim, 60. 

Church, Mrs. Sister of Alexander Hamilton, 7, 14. 

Claims for offices. A Specimen, 08. 

Clay, Henry. Resigns Secretary of State, 107 — Information to his successor, 107 — On Non- 
Intercourse, 108 — Union with Calhoun, 251 — Mr. Southard and the Missouri Compromise, 
443. 

Clinton, De Witt. Negotiations to nominate for President, 43 — Statement on, by Rufus 
King, 44. 

Clinton, Gen. Sir Henry. Proposal to abduct, opposition of Alexander Hamilton, 10. 

Clinton, George. Anecdote of, 10. 

Coalition, of Calhoun, McLean, and Webster, 162, 163, 166. 

Coleman, William. On draft of Washington's Farew-ell Address, 33. 

Columbia. Report, in 1829, on relations with, 604. 

Columbia County. Bar, in 1810, of, 41 — Politics in Supreme Court of, 42. 

Compromises of the Constitution. History of, 444 — Efforts toward, 468 — Washington Hunt 
on the subject, 495. 

Confederate Notes. Malicious charges against the United States Government, 584. 

•Cooper, Peter. Anecdote of popularity, 517. 

•Carlin, Mr. A journey with, Y3. 

■Corruption at Elections, 1859. Hints on, 428. 
•Council of Revision, of New York. Functions of, 48. 

Courier and Enquirer, and Bank question, 235. 
'Crawford, William. Personal acquaintance with, 62. 

Creek Indians. A visit to, and anecdotes of, 73. 
'Croswell, Mr. Defence of, by J. A II., in Jefferson libel suit, 11. 

De Longuemare Claim, the, and the Florida Treaty, 57 — Finally allowed, 60 

Democratic Association of Friends of Freedom. Draft of Articles, 484. 

Democratic Party. Relations of toward Slavery, 504. 

Democratic Review. On the New York Hotel Committee, 428. 

Democratic Vote. The plan for dividing, 449. 

Denmark. Report, in 1829, on Relations with, 601. 

Do Tocqueville, M. On English sympathy with the Rebellion, 463. 

Diplomatic Intercourse. Suggestions on extension of, 175. 

Disbursements. Of Public Money, 158. 

Disunion. Call by J. A. H. for meeting to arrest Progress of, 414. 



GENERAL INDKX. 043 

Dorr Insurrection. The, 351. 

Draft. Westchester County quota and enlistments, r.27-T.rTTtown Riou, • 

Duchess de Denon. Gift to James A. Hamilton of reliw of TiUlcyniid. 

Duer, Colonel. Kindness to, of Alexander Hamilton, 5. 

Duer, John. Efforts of Jesse Hoy t to supcr.sodo, 1 -jr.. 

Earle, T. Portrait by, of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, •«. 

Eaton, Major. And President Jackson's Cal.in.-t, u::— Pr,-.idont .1 

for him, 102— Nominated Secretary of War, 1H— Mr*. K^i..., ... 

Ladies, 12*? — Cabinet discussions on the Same, MO. 
Emancipation. (See Slavery.) 
European War Prospects. Louis McLanc, 111, I'.tt. 
Evening Post. New York, 94. 
Exports to Europe. Value of, 181. 
Export Duties. Chambers of Commerce on, 67'2. 
Fauchet, M. Successor of French Minister Genet, 10. 

Federal Party in New York. Denunciation of, as for Peace, 43— Power umJ Aum. 4*. 
Federalist, The. Extracts from, 433. 
Federalists. (See also American newspaper.) 
Fish, Hamilton. On Secretary Clia.se's July, 18G1, ronort, 10.'.. 
Florida Treaty. (See France.) 
Foreign Relations. Report in 1829 on, 587. 
Forfeiture of State Rights by Treason, 443. 
Fort Moultrie. President Buchanan's duty to (Jariison, 4M. 
Fort Sumter. Efforts to reinforce, 460 — Voluulcere declined bj PrT«. 

General Scott, 402. 
France. Florida Treaty ; conversation with J. Q. Adam?, r.8 — Claiinj br 

22Y— Louisiana Treaty, 111, 113, 238, 240— Thrcaleni«d War vilb tk« 

283— Report in 1829, on relations with, 587— {KcTolulion of 1M», •»<• 

See also Memoir on German, etc.. Trade.) 
Fugitive Slaves. (See Slavery.) 
Funding. Jefferson's charges (see Hamilton, Alexander)— Km 

McCulIoch, 38— Secretary Chase's July ISr.l Ucport, Vri, 4M. ^?« »••« i «•' ' 
Future of the Country. Suggestions on, 518, 520. 
Gallatin, Albert. First Report of Treasury, 23— Un Alexander IUmiJlo«'« a 

the Treasury, 121— On Bank re-charter, 317. 

Genet, M. French Minister; conduct of, 9— Sub,--, .j .. 

German Trade. Memoir by James .V. Hamilton on, 171, 17.V 
Gibbs. The Pirate, 21S — Painful duty in relation to. 'iVJ. 
Giles, Governor, on Alexander Hamilton, r.I. 
Governors of Loyal States, a Circular to, .'.lit'.. 
Great Britain. Arbitration by King of the Netherlan.' 
eastern Boundary, 115— Colonial System, In 
—Reform Bill, 229— Sympathy wi'h the K- 
ness, 493— Public faith, care to presorve, 4'.'. 
claims, estimate of, 579— Report in 18'J1). on n-U' 
with on return of Fugitive Slaves, 593— Report o 
eastern Boundary (luestion.) 
Great West. Letter to Mcinl)er of Cliicngo Conrcnlion on 
Greeley, Horace. Preference for Mr. Il.ilcs a» Pm.Klcnl oivr Ut. I 
Grosvenor, Thomas P. RecoUeotioiis of, 41. 
Hauseatic Cities. Report in 1829. on relation* wUb. 6«'^ 



644 GENERAL INDEX. 

Ilauteval, Mr, Letter of Thomas Pinckney on, 8. 

Holly, Mrs. Eliza, 64. 

Homans, Mr., and papers in Bankers' Magazine, 54Y. 

Iloyt, Jesse. Disreputahio olfice-seeking by, 12G.) 

liuskisson, William, and the Act of 1825, 165. 

Lnpressmcnt. Correspondence with Great Britain on, 593. 

Independence of the United 8tate«, how created, 134. 

Internal luiprovcments. (See Chicago Convention.) 

Isthmus of Panama. Neutrality of, 393. 

Italy. President Harrison on our relations with, 314. 

Jackson, President Andrew. Visit to, by James A. Hamilton, 68. His opinion of contempo- 
raries, 08 — Battle of New Orleans ; incident of his only retreat, 69 — Impressions of, by 
James A. Hamilton, 75, 76 — Aid by James A. Hamilton and others in forming Cabinet, 
87, 89 — His Election, 87 — Character and intentions, 87 — His removals of Officials, 87 — 
Arrival in Washington, 89 — Fitness of his Cabinet, 97 — Inaugural Address ; its revision 
by James A. Hamilton, 104, 105 — Message with Cabinet Nominations, 114 — Inaugural 
Address to Foreign Ministers, 115 — Message on Northeastern Boundary, 117 — Hostility 
to Great Britain misrepresented, 120 — Message on United States Bank, 149 — Attack of 
fever, 153 — Refusal to influence Congress, 164 — Message of 1830, 190 — Cabinet changes, 
215 — Bank deposits, 266 — Attempted Assassination, 283 — Conversation on Nullifica- 
tion. (See also "Banks," "Nullification," "Calhoun," "Jefferson," "President's Ap- 
pointments," "Eaton," etc.) 

Jackson, Mrs. Andrew. Reminiscences of, 70. 

Jay, John. Tribute to, by Daniel Webster, 437. 

JcfTorson, Thomas. "Ana" and letters, 16 — Refutation of his charges against Alexander 
Hamilton, 16 — On Character of Alexander Hamilton, 19 — On Funding System ; letter to 
Epes, 19 — Senate debate on veracity of his Memoirs, 19, 20 — Washington's opinion of 
his character, 21 — Johnston, John, on the Same, 21 — Letter to Washington on Alex- 
ander Hamilton's iiiiancial plans, 21 — On the Same, 35,123 — Mr. A. Gallatin's first 
Treasury Report, 24 — On Secession in certain cases, 38. 

Kentucky Military Loan. Correspondence on, 5C1. 

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and Calhoun, in 1798, 38, 39. (See also Nullification.) 

King, Rufus. Recollections of, 61. 

Lee, Henry. On the Public Debt, 17. 

Legal Tender Notes. J. I). Van Huron's plan of redemption, 579. 

Libel defined by Alexander Hamilton, 11. 

Loan. (See Chase, S. P.) 

Louis Philippe, King. And the Gouverneur Morris Estate, 47. 

Louisiana Treaty. (See France.) 

Lincoln, President Abraham. His Nomination at Chicago ; the manner of, 453 — New York 
Deputation on the Rebellion ; he meant to give blows, 477 — Interviews with New York 
War Coumiittee, 529 — Emancipation Proclamation, draft of by James A. Hamilton, 
533. (For further on the same, sec " Slavery.") 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington. On Corrupt Politicians, 429. 

McClellan, General. New York Committee on his appointment to the Potomac Army, 529 — 
And Mr. Seward, 532 — His nomination at Chicago, memorandum on, 574. , 

McCuUoch, Secretary. On the Funding System, 38. 

lyioDuflic. (Sec Bank.) 

McIIenry, Mr. On Mr. Ilauteval, 8. 

McLane, Louis. And Cabinet appointment, 88, 89, 91, 92, 94. 

McLean, John. Cabinet Negotiations with, 100 — Appointed to Supreme Court, 101. (See 
also Coalition.) 



GENERAL INDF.X. f»|« 

Madison, President. Insinuations against Al.xn-.dor Il.„.il,on 7-0o» 

tiveness, 61— On Civil War and Slavery, -Ml 
Malibran, Mr. and Wife. The suit of, 171. ' ' 
Malicious Falsehoods of Confederate Government, m. 
Manufacturers' Convention at New York 220 

Mason, J M. to Jefferson Davis in 185G;'pVeparation for Soce,,ion 41, 
Meade Claim, the, 60. 

Mexico. ^ Relations with now power in, 107-i:.>port on Trealv -iih. lU-VT.,. », 
sters resolution to treat, prepared by .Tan,,. A. M.imil.on. 3;,i_R*t^t ,a m 
relations with, 603. 
Military Operations in 1861. Plan of, by James A. Hamilton, 477. 
Missouri Compromise. (See Compromise.) 
Morris, Gouverneur, 6— Reply of James A. Hamilton in Court of KrrT,«. I • - 

Estate of, 146. 
Morris, Mrs. Robert. Kindness to, of Alexander Hamilton. 4. 
Morton, Washington. Husband of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton'^ N.t^r, 5 
Naples. Report in 1829 on, 602. 
Nashville Slaveholders' Convention, 448. 
Negroes. (See Slavery.) 
Netherlands. King of, desires United States Minister at hi.-t Court, 1«K- 

relations with the United States, 599. 
New Orleans. Battle of; incidents, 69— Delegates from, to Gorcrnor Johawo. 71 
New York. Great fire in 183o, 285. 

New York Times. War Loans Articles, by S. B. RiikrIc«. 496. 
New York AYar Committee. Interviews with President Lincoln, 529. 
New York Wild Lands. Purchasers of. 8. 
Non-Intercourse. Opinions of Ilenry Clay, 108. 

Northeastern Boundary. Report on Arbitration, 115 — Prosidcnl Jtekum'* Mcawcr. : 
Letter of British Jlinistor Yaughan on deprodasicini, l'Ji> — !.• 

delays, 164 — Decision of King of Xctherl.iiKN !''-. '•.'--f--— ^ ..^ 

Supplemental Report, 606. 
Nullification. Calhoun ; the Yirginia and Kentucky l{«>soluiioo», 3"«, 
Charleston, 226— Letters of President Jnck.son, 231, 247. 21"*- 
President Jackson, 448. (See also Calhoun, etc.) 
Offices of Deposit. (See Banks.) 

Official Communications. Treatise of, 197— Oiru-iul I)fIin<iii»'ncT, 4."<"». 
Panama, Isthmus. President Taylor on Xcutrality of, 3'.»;i. 
Parton, James. Statement of, on forgcil chnjlrnsr'' I" Hurr, 5fi. 
Party Discipline and Official Changc-i, 430, 4:; I 
Peel, Sir Robert. On President Jiu'k.'*oii niic! iii'< i ir;:i, ;• .. 
Pendleton, Mr. An executor of Alexander lUinilion. '.». 
Pennsylvania Invasion. (See Letters.) 

Pickerin"-, Timothy. Letter to Wa.-diinpton wiih Alexander ll«i4tilu>a • to MflUf*. • 
Pinckney, C. C. On Disunion pretexts of the Soutli, 413 

Piracies near Havana. Report on, 1 19— Alexander H«miUot."« r««iin««* o^ I'*-* 
Plumer, William. On designs of the Fo<lerali.'«l», 109. 
Poles. New York Meeting in beiinlf of tlto, 220. 
Ports. Closing of ; suggestions, 474-I99. 
Portugal. Question of Envoy to, 107— Report In 182W on I: 
Post-Office Department. Letter.i in ni<l. by J.ime* A iiuus!:^. :s ■ 
Presents to United States Officials. (Sec Kliind. ) 



646 GENERAL INDEX. 

Presidential Candidates in 1832. W. B. Lewis on, 258. 

President's Appointments and Removals. Jackson's new precedent, 8Y — Resolutions of 
inquirj-, etc., by James A. Hamilton, 430, 431, 433, 434, 436 — Examination of the 
question, (314. 

Princess of Orange Jewels. Theft of, 222, 22*7, 232, 236, 246, 

" Property in Man." James A. Hamilton's paper on, 624 — Comments thereon, 454, 455. 

Prussia. Treaty with, 115 — Report in 1829 on Relations with, 602. 

Public Credit and Faith. Maxims of Alexander Hamilton, 416, 490 — United States and 
Great Britain, 497. 

Public Lands. Suggestions on Sale of, to liquidate debt, 582. 

Quadroons in Louisiana, 12. 

Randolph, Edward. Report on default of, 35. 

Randolph, John. On Virginia State Armory, 39 — Erratic conduct at Russian Court, 39. 

Rebellion. (See Secession.) 

Removals and Appointments. (See President.) 

Repudiation in Europe, 380. 

Retaliation. Resolution of Confederate Congress threatening, 584. 

Revenue. (Sec Chase, Banks, etc.) 

Rhind, Charles. Facts and correspondence on the present of Horses to by the Sublime Porte, 
144, 197, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 211, 212, 213, 216, 217, 219, 233, 440, 
443. 

Rights of Mankind. Alexander Hamilton on, 516. 

Riots. (See Draft.) 

Ruggles, S. B. War loans, articles in JV. Y. Times. 

Russia. Report, in 1829, on relations with, 596 — Kamschalka, sale of the, (See Second 
Voyage). 

Sandford, General. Reply on reinforcing Sumter, 401. 

Savings Banks. Proposal for special deposits of United States securities, 560, 562. 

Schtifler, Geo. L. Visit to Russia with. (See Second Voyage.) 

Schuyler, M;ij.-Gen. Philip. Father of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, ], 3. 

Scott, General. Reply to offer of service by J. A. H., 317 — Reply on Volunteers for Sumter, 
402. 

Seaton, W. Letter on Bank Deposits, 265. 

Secession. Jeffei'son's opinion on, in certain cases, 38 — Paper on, by J. A. H., 459, 463 — 
Commissioners rebuffed by Lord John Russell, 483. 

Seward, W. H. Named at Chicago Convention, 453 — Discussion of War Committee, 529— 
Letter to Minister Adams on power to subdue Rebellion, 531 — Desired a Coup d'Etat, a 
Cromwell, etc., 536. 

Sinking Fund. Legal Tender, etc., 579. 

Slavery and Slaves. Writings of Wise and Good, 440 — ^Enlistment of Slaves, 478, 503, 504, 
524, seV, 509 — War measures by Congress, suggestions, 505, 509 — New York Emanci- 
pation meeting, 514 — Internal Slave Trade, 516, 573 — Emancipation Proclamation, draft 
by J. A. H., 533 — Deputation to President Lincoln, 548 — Draft of Abolition Act, 570, 
671 — Constitutional Amendment, 575 — Great Britain and Fugitive Slaves, 593. (See also 
" Property in Man." ) 

Slidcll. The father of John Slidell, 16. 

Southard, S. L. Authorship of Missouri Compromise resolutions, 443. 

Spark, Jared. On Washington's Farewell Address, 31. 

Spain. Report, in 1829, on relations with, 597. 

States. How affected by Rebellion, 443. 

State Banks. (See Banks.) 



OENHRAL INDr.X. (JJ 7 

South Carolina. Motives for Secession, 451. 
Stolen Jewels. (See Princess of Orange.) 
Sublime Porte. (See Tu-'kev ; also Rhinil.) 

Swartwout, General. Appointed Collector, 123, 125_Ro,nov.,l for default. 154-lVIWl u^ 

Ignorance, 173. 

Sweden. Case of arrest by Captain Turner, lOS-Roport, in 1829, on r. ' 
Talleyrand, Prince. The, admiration of Alexander Hamilton.' 7-4. 

stances, 7— Visit by J. A. H. to home of, at Vaienvav, 3oG-l'r.- 

A. H., 309. 
Tariff Law, a pretext for Disunion, 445, 448. 
Tazewell, L. W., 88, 89, 91, 92. 
Tenure of Office Bill, 436. 

Territories. Reduction to condition of, of rebel States, 605, 608. 
Texas. Proposal for volunteers, and an Act, to subdue, 523, SS-l, 557. 
Treason. Forfeiture of rights by, 443. 
Treasury, Loose conduct of the, 140. 
Treaties of Commerce and Navigation. Report on, 123. 
Troup, Colonel. Kindness of, to Alexander Uamilton, 4. 
Turkey. Memorandum on Treaty of Peace and Coinnicrcc, 202. 
Van Buren, President Martin. Recollections in 1810 of, 41— In- 

county Judge, 42— Recollections, 161— To W. Coleman on S- • 

Major Eaton, 93— Secretaryship of State, 103, 114— On var. 

Maine Message, 311. 
Van Buren, John D. Plan of Legal Tender redemption, 57'.'. 
Vandever, Mr. Bill on reducing rebellious States to Tcrritoriej, 50s. 
Van Ness, William. Recollections of, 42 — Charge of corruption with Ilank of Xmttitm, «ft— 

Investigation of same by New Yt rk Assembly, 49 — Ro|x»rt on Mino, 52- 

American for libel, 53 — Suit discontinued ; etfcct of the r-- - ■ ■ 
Van Rensselaer, Jacob R. Recollections in 1810 of, 41 — A. .-vx wUh lUak wl 

America, 148. 
Vaughan, Charles R. In 1844, on Baltimore Convention, etc., o32. 
Vergennes, M. On Source of American Independence, 135. 
Vine Growers' Association, the, 421. 
Virginia and Kentucky, resolutions of 1798, 38. 
Virginia State Armory. Purpose of erection, 39. 
Volunteers in the Field. Suggestion on Votes of, 510. 
Walker, Captain, of Fort Hull, a visit to, 73. 
War of 1812. Columbia lawyers on, 4 2. 
Washmgton, George. To Alexander Hamilton, on JrfT.-rx.n't oM.viioM to > 

21. 
Washington's Farewell Address. Authorship of, by Alcxan.l.-r lUmdio:.. ii 

Criticisms of the same, 31. 
Webster. (See Coalition.) 
Weed, Thurlow. On Mr. Chase's Chance for PrctidcncT. 550— L*uct oo P»Wic I-. 

to pay debt, 582. 
Well-s John. Lock of Alexander Hamilton's hair found in iho dwk of. 1-^ 
West ludies. Claim of United States to trade wilh, 1*5. 
Whig Partv. W. 11. Seward on, 351 
Willkms, Elisha. Recollections about 1810, 41— Alleged comi|XJoo viik 

48. 
Wortmau, Tunis. Anecdote of, II. 



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